How To Use The Portal
Be prepared to enter your Social Security number, birthday, street address and ZIP code to see your payment status. Be sure to follow the formatting exactly or it wont work. You must enter your street address in the exact format shown below, for example.
Dont be surprised if you get error messages or timeout alerts while attempting to use the portal. Millions of people are accessing this newly created website at the same time, and many are reporting a Payment Status Not Available alert that says the IRS doesnt have enough information to determine your eligibility at this time.
If you get this message, youre not alone. Some Americans have even reported getting this message and receiving their direct deposit. Logic dictates that this alert is just the website being buggy. More likely than not, youll have a better time accessing it when traffic slows down a bit.
Why Can’t I Get On The Get My Payment Site
The IRS said this can happen if people don’t provide security answers that match the tax agency’s information over the course of several attempts to log in. The IRS asks for personal information such as a Social Security number, birthdate and address.
“If you can’t verify your identity, you won’t be able to use Get My Payment,” the IRS said. “Don’t contact the IRS for assistance with a lockout IRS assisters can’t unlock your account.”
However, the site will allow you to try again after 24 hours.
How To Claim A Missing Payment
You may be eligible to claim a Recovery Rebate Credit on your 2020 or 2021 federal tax return if you didn’t get an Economic Impact Payment or got less than the full amount.
It is important to understand that the Economic Impact Payments applied to different tax years. Depending on whether you missed the first, second or third payment, you will need to file either a 2020 or 2021 tax return to claim a Recovery Rebate Credit.
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Do You Have To Pay Back The Stimulus Check
No, you dont have to pay it back. It also doesnt reduce any refund you would otherwise receive.
No, there is no provision in the law requiring repayment of an Economic Impact Payment, the IRS website said about the first round of checks.
If your income dropped in 2020 compared with 2019, you may now be eligible for the payment or a bigger payment if you have already filed your taxes and they have been processed by the IRS.
If your payment is too high based on your 2020 income and you still haven’t filed your 2020 taxes, youre not responsible for paying back the difference.
Denitsa is a writer for Yahoo Finance and Cashay, a new personal finance website. Follow her on Twitter
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Here’s How To Track Your Stimulus Check From The Irs

Americans eligible for direct payments from the coronavirus economic stimulus bill should be able to find out when they’re getting their money with a new tool from the Internal Revenue Service expect to launch within the next week.
Called Get My Payment, the tool is expected to let users know when to either expect their money to be direct deposited into their accounts or when paper checks are slated to be delivered.
Get My Payment does not need to downloaded from an app store, according to a press release provided to Newsweek by the U.S. Department of the Treasury and can be accessed from any desktop, tablet or phone.
Some basic information will be required in order to track payments, including a Social Security number, mailing address and the date of birth of the user.
Expected to be an additional feature with the Get My Payment tool is a place for individuals who do not file yearly income tax returns, such as people who receive Social Security benefits, to input their information to facilitate payments.
Individuals who don’t file tax returns can go ahead and send their information to the IRS by choosing the Non-filers: Enter Payment Info Here option on the IRS website.
American adults who are eligible for the payments can expect to receive up to $1,200 from the government, with an extra $500 paid out to parents per child.
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What Does ‘payment Status Not Available’ Mean
According the stimulus check FAQ , you might see “Payment Status Not Available” if you are required to file a tax return but haven’t yet, the IRS hasn’t finished processing it if you have, or you’re not eligible.
Be patient and check back in with the Get My Payment app if you’ve recently filed your returns. If you’ve received your tax return payment and still see the “Payment Status Not Available,” message, call 800-919-9835 for the Economic Impact Payment information line.
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How Do I Get My Second Stimulus Check
You dont need to do anything if:
- You have filed a tax return for tax year 2019.
- You are a Social Security recipient, including Social Security Disability Insurance , railroad retiree. Or, you are a Supplemental Security Insurance and Veterans Affairs beneficiary.
- You have successfully registered for the first stimulus check online using the IRS Non-Filers tool or submitted a simplified tax return that has been processed by the IRS.
The IRS shouldve automatically sent your payment. All second stimulus checks were issued by January 15, 2021. If you didnt get a second stimulus check by then , you can claim your second stimulus check as the Recovery Rebate Tax Credit on your 2020 tax return or use GetCTC.org if you dont have a filing requirement.
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I Used The 2020 Irs Non
Most likely, the IRS wasnt able to process your 2019 tax return or the information you submitted to the IRS Non-filer tool in time to issue your second stimulus check.
All second stimulus checks were issued by January 15, 2021. If you didnt get a second stimulus check by then , you can claim your second stimulus check as the Recovery Rebate Tax Credit on your 2020 tax return or use GetCTC.org if you dont have a filing requirement.
What If I Receive Social Security Through The Direct Express Debit Card
The IRS says that people who receive government benefits such as Social Security, Railroad Retirement benefits, Supplemental Security Income or Veteran’s Benefits through Direct Express a debit card that automatically receives payments will get their second stimulus checks deposited onto that card.
But the IRS cautioned, “The bank information shown in Get My Payment will be a number associated with your Direct Express card and may be a number you don’t recognize.”
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I Had A Problem With The First Or Second Payment
Some individuals had too much income in 2019 to qualify for the first or second stimulus payment , but their income decreased enough in 2020 for them to qualify. If you fall into this category, you can file a tax return for your 2020 taxes and you’ll receive a recovery rebate credit as part of your refund .
In other cases, families received stimulus payments by direct deposit but the IRS neglected to add money for one or more of their children. Sometimes there didn’t seem to be a reason for this . For other families, it seems the IRS did not update the number of children that taxpayers have, even for families who claimed new children on their 2019 tax returns. You’ll be able to claim the rest of the stimulus payment when you file your next tax return.
What Does The Stimulus Check Portal Do
The updated “Get My Payment” tool lets you:
- Check the status of your stimulus payment
- Confirm your payment type and
- Get a projected direct deposit or paper check delivery date .
For first-round stimulus payments, you could also use the portal to enter or change your bank account information to have your payment directly deposited into your account. However, that feature isn’t included in the current tool . The IRS already has bank account information for millions of Americans from recent tax returns, tax payments, the original “Get My Payment” tool, the non-filers tool used last year, other federal agencies that regularly send out benefit payments , and federal records of recent payments to or from the government. So, the tax agency is generally limiting direct deposit payments to bank accounts that they already have on file. As a result, you can’t change your bank information using the “Get My Payment” tool.
If your payment isn’t deposited directly into your bank account, then you’ll get either a paper check or a debit card in the mail . You could also receive a payment by mail if your bank rejected a direct deposit. This could happen because the bank information was incorrect or the bank account on file with the IRS has since been closed.
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Usps Is A Good Way To Track Your Paper Check
If your third stimulus check is going out in the mail, the US Postal Service has a free app that can notify you when it’s about to deliver your stimulus money from the IRS. Informed Delivery is a mail-tracking service that automatically scans your letters and alerts you to when they’ll be delivered. Here’s more on how to set up and use the letter-tracking service from the USPS to keep tabs on your payment.
H& r Block Turbotax Problems

Intuit’s TurboTax on Tuesday also tweeted that some customers were having problems receiving their stimulus checks. “The IRS announced yesterday that due to the speed at which they issued this second round of payments, they sent some payments to an account that may be closed or no longer active,” the tax-prep service said.
The IRS said checks sent to closed or inactive accounts can’t by law be held by the financial institutions and redirected to consumers. Instead the funds will be returned to the IRS, and people who didn’t receive a check must wait until they file their 2020 tax returns to get the stimulus money in a refund. Because of that, it’s likely that those customers will face a delay.
Some customers responded on social media that they had panicked after failing to receive their funds as expected, with some expressing concern they had been a victim of fraud.
Meanwhile, the IRS said on Monday that the direct deposits could take “several days” to post to individual accounts after the official payment day of January 4. It added that some people may see their stimulus checks listed as pending or as provisional payments in their accounts.
Here’s what to know about tracking your payment.
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What To Know About Adding Your Direct Deposit Details
You can’t use the Get My Payment tool to sign up for a new account or correct details about your payment. Even if the IRS is unable to deliver your payment to a bank account and the money is returned to the government, you won’t be able to correct the details online — the IRS says it will send the money again by mail.
The extended tax deadline was May 17. With the agency’s delay in processing tax returns, trying to register for a new direct deposit account with your 2020 tax return won’t get you into the system quickly enough. However, if you haven’t submitted your taxes yet, signing up for a new direct deposit account could still get you IRS money faster in the future, such as tax refunds or the upcoming child tax credit.
Find Out Which Payments You Received
To find the amounts of your Economic Impact Payments, check:
Your Online Account: Securely access your individual IRS account online to view the total of your first, second and third Economic Impact Payment amounts under the Economic Impact Payment Information section on the Tax Records page.
IRS EIP Notices: We mailed these notices to the address we have on file.
- Notice 1444: Shows the first Economic Impact Payment sent for tax year 2020
- Notice 1444-B: Shows the second Economic Impact Payment sent for tax year 2020
- Notice 1444-C: Shows the third Economic Impact Payment sent for tax year 2021
Letter 6475: Through March 2022, we’ll send this letter confirming the total amount of the third Economic Impact Payment and any plus-up payments you received for tax year 2021.
You will need the total payment information from your online account or your letter to accurately calculate your Recovery Rebate Credit. For married filing joint individuals, each spouse will need to log into their own online account or review their own letter for their half of the total payment.
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California Adjusted Gross Income
You must have $1 to $75,000 of California AGI to qualify for GSS II. Only certain income is included in your CA AGI . If you have income that’s on this list, you may meet the CA AGI qualification. To receive GSS II and calculate your CA AGI, you need to file a complete 2020 tax return by October 15, 2021. Visit Ways to file, including free options, for more information.
Income included in CA AGI
Generally, these are included in your CA AGI:
- Wages and self-employment income
- Gains on a sale of property
Visit Income types for a list of the common types of income.
Income excluded from CA AGI
Generally, these are not included in your CA AGI:
- Social Security
- Supplemental Security Income /State Supplementary Payment and Cash Assistance Program for Immigrants
- State Disability Insurance and VA disability benefits
- Unemployment income
You would generally not qualify for GSS II if these were your only sources of income. However, if you have income that is included in CA AGI in addition to this list, you may qualify for GSS II.
For information about specific situations, refer to federal Form 1040 and 1040-SR Instructions and California 2020 Instructions for Form 540. Go to Line 17 of Form 540 for CA AGI.
If you receive Social Security
You may be wondering whether or not you qualify for GSS II if you receive Social Security income. Social Security income is not included in CA AGI. However, if you have $1 or more of CA AGI , you may qualify for GSS II.
Second Stimulus Check: How You Can Track When You’ll Get Your Payment
The $600 stimulus checks that are going out to millions of people can now be individually tracked through the IRS’ “Get My Payment” website, which reopened on Monday afternoon. The site informs people about the date of their payment and whether they will receive it via direct deposit or the mailed payment date.
Still, there are some glitches that are delaying the payments of the stimulus money and creating confusion and questions for consumers. Chief among them: Some people who had their 2020 tax returns filed through tax preparers like H& R Block may have had their stimulus check sent directly to the tax firm, rather than their bank account.
This echoes a glitch that impacted payment of the first stimulus check for some people who used tax prep services and for whom the IRS didn’t have direct-deposit information. With the second round of stimulus checks, a similar issue may impact some people, with H& R Block warning its customers who used a service called a refund transfer that they might see “an account number you don’t recognize” on the “Get My Payment” website. Refund transfers are offered to allow people to tap their refund to pay their tax prep fees, according to H& R Block.
As many as 13 million people may experience a delay in receiving their money after the IRS sent the funds to closed or invalid bank accounts, according to tax-prep company Jackson Hewitt.
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If The First Two Stimulus Payments Never Showed Up Do This
The IRS is no longer automatically sending out the first and second payments that were approved in 2020. If you believe you’re still owed money from either of those payment rounds, your best chance of claiming those funds is to file for the Recovery Rebate Credit as part of the 2020 tax season.
If you’re eligible, you’ll need to know the amount of money the IRS allotted you, which you can find out online or from the letter the agency mailed. The IRS said the updated Get My Payment tracker won’t give you information on the first and second checks. Instead, you need to set up and check your IRS account for information on those payments.
Covid+credit: When Will I Get My $1200 Stimulus Check
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Americans everywhere have been hit hard by the Coronavirus/Covid-19 pandemic, with much of the economy in a holding pattern amid nationwide efforts to curb the spread of the virus. Fortunately for those in need, some short-term economic relief is coming in the form of federal government stimulus checks.
As a part of the record-setting $2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act approved in late March by Congress, most adults will receive a one-time payment of up to $1,200, though the exact amount depends on your income. Adults will receive an additional $500 for every qualifying child age 16 or under, and married couples without children earning below a certain threshold will receive a total of up to $2,400. You do not need to apply to receive a payment.
Now that U.S. government stimulus checks have turned from a dream into a reality, what’s the top question on everyone’s mind? When will I receive my money? The short answer? It’s complicated.
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