As the Internal Revenue Service begins to disburse the third economic impact payments, the agency says it has fixed an account mishap that delayed the second stimulus deposits for millions of households.
Stimulus checks for millions of customers of tax preparation companies including TurboTax, H&R Block, Jackson Hewitt, TaxAct and others were deposited into the wrong bank accounts by the IRS earlier this year. The agency erroneously deposited the payments into temporary “pass-through” accounts the tax prep companies set up in previous years that their customers no longer had access to.
That frustrated many Americans, who had to wait several days — and in some cases, weeks — for money they were relying on to pay their rent, car payment or other bills to be redirected to their actual bank accounts.
Now, TurboTax and the IRS have confirmed that they worked together to ensure the agency has the correct bank account information for customers for the third stimulus payments. IRS officials also said that the agency put a new system into place to more quickly correct errors when they occur, but it did not provide details.
H&R Block, which was affected by the same account mishap earlier this year, also said that it worked directly with the IRS to confirm account information.
Some taxpayers have already received their third deposits. The IRS will continue sending the payments out in batches over the next few weeks. Most people will receive the payment via direct deposit, though the IRS is also issuing paper checks and pre-paid debit cards for some.
Running into issues receiving your stimulus check? Email money reporter Alicia Adamczyk at [email protected] with questions.
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