Reasons you have not received your stimulus

Only about half of the stimulus payments have been received by April 17.

The IRS is sending the stimulus in batches.  They are starting by sending it to people who could get it the fastest.  This is anyone who filed their 2018 or 2019 return with direct deposit information.

Individuals who received Social Security but didn’t file a tax return for 2018 or 2019 will receive their refunds next.  Then the IRS will begin sending payments to people who will be receiving checks.

If the IRS does not have your bank information necessary to direct deposit your stimulus, your payment will be delayed because it takes longer to get the payment by check.  The IRS can only process up to 5 million paper checks per week, so some taxpayers may have to wait until as late as September to receive their stimulus check.

If your bank account is no longer open, your bank should have rejected the funds transfer.  The IRS will then be notified of the closed account by the bank and you will receive a paper check instead.

The IRS website’s Get My Payment tool allows people to provide their bank information so that their payment will be direct deposited.  However, the tool has had problems.

Some users have received the message “According to information that we have on file, we cannot determine your eligibility for a payment at this time.  This may happen for a variety of reasons, for example, if you didn’t file either a 2018 or 2019 tax return or you recently filed, and the return has not been fully processed.” Some people then question whether their 2018 has been filed.  However, keep in mind that this is just an example of one reason why a payment has not been made.

A message that mistakenly told some users that payments rejected by banks were being re-sent to the same account.  Those payments are actually being mailed to the taxpayers.

There are several reasons why you may not receive your stimulus payment.

If you owe child support, the stimulus will be applied to the child support.

Debt collectors may be able to take your stimulus if they have a legal judgement against you and are legally able to garnish your income.  However, if you receive a paper check, you may be able to protect your stimulus by cashing it instead of depositing it in the bank.

Some banks are taking an individual’s stimulus if they are behind on loan payments or have overdraft fees.

Anyone who is age 17 or older and was claimed as a dependent is ineligible for the stimulus.  This includes disabled adults and adult dependents.

If your gross income was too high on the most recently filed tax return you will not be eligible to receive the stimulus.

David Zubler is a tax accountant and Enrolled Agent representing clients before the IRS with over 25 years of tax experience. He is the author of four tax books and is the founder and president of Your Tax Care. The company provides business and tax education to the public at its website, YourTaxCare.com. David can also be contacted by email at zublerdavid@gmail.com