The “Get My Payment” service will be reactivated in a few days, according to the IRS. In “a few days”, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) will enable the “Get My Payment” tool for second stimulus check recipients to verify the status of the payment.
The service was activated earlier this year to inform recipients of the first round of checks under the CARES Act when the money would arrive.
The application, accessed via the IRS website, shows the user whether the agency issued a payment and whether it was deposited into the bank account or mailed.
“In certain situations, this tool will also give people the option of providing their bank account information to receive their payment by direct deposit. The information is updated once a day, usually at night, so there’s no need to check it more than once a day,” reads a statement from the IRS website.
In this week’s update on the second round of payments under the 2021 Pandemic Relief and Response Supplemental Appropriations Act signed by President Donald Trump on Sunday, the agency specifies that administrators are currently updating “Get My Payment” with new information.
First steps
The first step in navigating the service, once available, is to provide the Social Security number, date of birth and mailing address information as requested by the tool.
During the process of distributing the first round of payments, many Internet users experienced problems using the app. Most were related to incorrect data entry or did not match the data the IRS has on file in its system.
Four points to consider when using the tool
– If the answers do not match the IRS files after several attempts, the user will be locked out for 24 hours for security reasons.
– Users who cannot verify their identity will not be able to use Get My Pay.
– If the system throws the message “Payment status unavailable,” it could be because the IRS cannot determine an individual’s eligibility for a payment at this time. There are several reasons for this:
- A 2018 or 2019 tax return is not filed and the agency needs more information
- The person could be claimed as a dependent on another person’s tax return.
– In other cases, if a taxpayer filed his or her 2019 tax return, but the IRS has not yet processed it, he or she may also receive the message “Payment status not available. Taxpayers who have already filed a tax return do not need to take any action.