The IRS Stimulus Check Is Finally In The Mail (For Some)

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) said on Friday (April 24) that another eight million Americans have received their coronavirus stimulus payments over the past week.

The agency said it has issued 88.1 million of the stimulus payments as mandated by Congress, which approved $1,200 for most Americans. That’s up some eight million from one week ago, bringing the total value of payouts to nearly $158 billion, according to the IRS.

“The IRS, Treasury and partner agencies are working non-stop to get these payments out in record time to Americans who need them,” said IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig. “Tens of millions of people across the country are receiving these payments, and millions more are on the way.” 

However, nearly 156 million Americans filed taxes last year, which leaves about 68 million Americans waiting to get their payment (although some higher-income taxpayers won’t qualify).

If the IRS continues its pace of eight million weekly payouts, the last check will be deposited by June 24. However, an IRS spokesman told PYMNTS that checks will continue to arrive throughout the summer. Taxpayers getting paper checks will have the longest wait, the spokesman said.

The IRS told Bloomberg that it has begun processing $1,200 payments for people who aren’t required to file tax returns, such as some Americans who receive Social Security, Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and veterans’ affairs benefits. Those people are expected to start receiving payments in late April and early May, the agency said.

“Checks are being issued on time, as planned,” according to a letter the U.S. Treasury Department sent to Democratic Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon on Thursday (April 23).

IRS officials have encouraged taxpayers to provide their banking information to the agency if the government doesn’t have it.

The IRS Get My Payment tool is designed to help track the status of payouts, but problems have persisted. For example, some users have received error messages such as: “According to information that we have on file, we cannot determine your eligibility for a payment at this time. … This may occur 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.”

The IRS’ Taxpayer Advocate Service (TAS) has advised Americans to use this link if they have trouble tracking the whereabouts of their money.