The IRS on Wednesday issued new guidance about whether deceased or incarcerated individuals qualified for stimulus payments. The answer in both cases: “No.”
“A payment made to someone who died before receipt of the payment should be returned to the IRS,” according to a statement on the organization’s website, carving out an exception for a payment made to joint tax filers. In that case, “you only need to return the portion of the payment made on account of the decedent.”
The IRS offered similar guidance on checks distributed to incarcerated individuals, again saying that only some of the payment would have to be returned in the event that only one spouse is currently incarcerated. The payments – authorized under the $2.2 trillion coronavirus-relief package – are based on tax filings from 2019, meaning some intended recipients will have died or been incarcerated prior to receiving their check.
Immigrants “who received a payment but are not qualifying resident aliens for 2020” would also need to return any payment they received, the IRS said on Wednesday.
A similar situation unfolded under former President Barack Obama during the financial crisis in 2008 and 2009, when more than $22 million was erroneously distributed in the form of one-time stimulus payments to roughly 89,000 beneficiaries who had already died or been incarcerated prior to receiving their check, according to a subsequent inspector general report.
It was not immediately clear how many checks had been mistakenly distributed as a part of the ongoing coronavirus distribution effort, which began in mid-April. Many Americans – mostly those who are awaiting a physical check, in lieu of a direct deposit – still report that their payments have not been delivered. Many are also unable to check the status of their check through a separate page on the IRS website.
Read the rest at: Dead people Checks