Still haven’t gotten a second stimulus check? Ways to check your status
On January 4th, 2021, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) released the “Get My Payment” tool for the entire country. Using the IRS’s Get My Payment tool you can avoid long calls and find out more about the second Economic Impact Payment (EIPs) at a click of a button!
No more calling financial institutions or tax software providers because the IRS’s new Get My Payment online tool allows U.S. citizens & residents to find a second stimulus check at a much quicker rate, but how?
How does Get My Payment work?
By using the IRS website, you can choose a language option between English & Spanish. Using the Get My Payment tool you will be notified as soon as the IRS has sent the second stimulus payment. If you were sent your first stimulus payment already then the Get My Payment online tool will show you what you might have missed.
Another convenient feature of the Get My Payment tool is that you have the option whether you would like to receive your second stimulus check through a “direct deposit” or “mail”.
The IRS has confirmed their payment data is updated daily so users will not have to check more than once a day. If users would like to see a second stimulus check then they don’t have to bother calling the agency as whatever the “Get My Payment” tool says is what the agency will provide.
Confused about Get My Payment?
The IRS has provided a perfect step-by-step process online if an error on Get My Payment occurs. First, you need to verify their identity through a number of security questions the IRS has a record of. You need to double-check and provide accurate information. You can also try different ways of entering addresses like using the U.S. Postal Service’s ZIP Lookup tool for a standard address format.
If by any chance you’re locked out of the Get My Payment tool, you won’t be able to access a second stimulus check for the next twenty-four hours. Once the lock is lifted you can try again to verify your identity.
While checking a second stimulus check, if the “Payment Status Not Available” notification appears, the IRS wasn’t able to identify your eligibility for the second payment. If this occurred you either “didn’t file a 2018 or 2019 tax return” or your “filed return” isn’t completely processed.
Stimulus checks
Since Wednesday, December 30th the IRS started their direct deposit payments which started with paper checks to U.S. citizens & residents. Some citizens may see on the Get My Payment tool that your payment is currently “pending”. This status means you’ll have to wait a number of days to reflect the transfer to your account. Others will receive their payment on January 4th, 2021.
Forbes reported that if you don’t receive the second stimulus payment through direct deposit then you will receive either a check or through a debit card by “early January” and every payment will take a few days to process or mailed. U.S citizens abroad will have to wait much longer for delivery.
U.S. citizens & residents should keep an eye out for the mail because some second stimulus checks may come via paper checks. Others will likely receive their payment through a debit card issued by U.S. Treasury’s financial agent MetaBank, N.A.
U.S. citizens & residents who are eligible for an automatic second stimulus check are those “who filed a 2019 tax return, receive Social Security retirement, survivor or disability benefits (SSDI), Railroad Retirement benefits, Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Veterans Affairs beneficiaries”. Those who don’t receive a second stimulus payment can claim one from the IRS when filing for a 2020 tax return.
The IRS’s second stimulus checks will only go through automatic payments to those that registered online through the IRS website (IRS.gov) or provided their tax return by November 21st, 2020.
Who gets a second stimulus check?
According to Forbes, U.S. citizens or residents may receive second stimulus checks as high as $600 per person or child and $1,200 for married couples. However to be eligible for a second stimulus check one would need to earn $75,000 or less. The IRS would like to phase out the payment to those that earn at least “$150,000 for joint returns and $112,500 for heads of household”.
U.S. Citizens & residents will only receive a second stimulus check if they’re older than seventeen. Those eligible will receive a notice from the IRS and can be checked using the Get My Payment tool. Remember to keep whatever notice you receive whether electronic or paper as it will be part of your tax records.
If you have changed your bank account and are worried about receiving your second stimulus check, you can check the Get My Payment tool to see if the payment has been processed. By law “if an eligible taxpayer doesn’t get a payment or it is less than expected” it can be claimed via the 2020 tax return as a “Recovery Rebate Credit”.
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Using the Get My Payment tool you can see your eligibility and record of payments on a regular basis. The IRS website contains more questions & queries about the second stimulus checks.
