The IRS announced this week it revamped its “Get My Payment” tool on the agency’s website, and it is urging eligible taxpayers to retry submitting the banking information if they have experienced technical difficulties in the past. The IRS already sent out about 130 million payments in the first month of the federal relief program, either through direct deposit or by mail. Eligible taxpayers who do not provide their direct deposit information by noon Wednesday will have their files sent to the Bureau of Financial Services to get a paper check late May or early June.
The federal government says it cannot provide taxpayers with direct deposits once the process of sending the paper checks by mail begins after noon Wednesday.
Any U.S. citizen who has a valid Social Security number and who makes less than $75,000 is set to receive $1,200. Married couples who file jointly and make less than $150,000 receive $2,400. Payments decline incrementally by income, with the cutoff an individual who makes more than $99,000 and married couples making more than $198,000.
After you insert your birthdate, Social Security number and home address, the “Get My Payment” tool indicates if you will receive the payment. Additionally, it provides taxpayers with the option of receiving this money by direct deposit over the next 24 hours.
All of the taxpayer information is pulled from 2019 tax returns if they have been already filed, or from 2018 returns if taxpayers haven’t filed for 2019 yet.
On social media this week, the IRS renewed calls encouraging people who previously had troubles using the website to try again before Wednesday. “Improvements to the #IRS ‘Get My Payment’ tool continue. If you don’t have a date for your Economic Impact Payment, visit the tool again for the latest information,” the agency tweeted Tuesday morning.
The agency promised it had updated the Get My Payment tool to “deliver an improved and smoother experience” to eligible taxpayers.
Government agencies, including unemployment offices in states across the country, have been hit with a deluge of both online and mail requests that have overwhelmed many services since the start of the pandemic. A survey last month found tens of millions of Americans who were forced out of the workforce as a result of the outbreak were still unable to receive jobless benefits, primarily because of early technical difficulties.
The payments are part of the $1.2 trillion relief package passed by Congress and signed by the president to help Americans during the pandemic.