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Treasury Department sends 8 million stimulus checks via prepaid cards

Treasury Department sends 8 million stimulus checks via prepaid cards

Keep an eye on your mail, you will get this card there if you are eligible. Starting this week, the Treasury Department and the IRS will be sending out approximately 8 million second stimulus checks via prepaid debit card (EIP).

These EIP cards will be issued after the millions of payments already made through direct deposit and after the sending of paper stimulus checks that are still being sent.

It is important for those who do not receive direct deposit to keep an eye on their mail, as they will receive a paper check or prepaid debit card there.

The Treasury Department’s Fiscal Service Office sends out prepaid debit card payments to speed up the delivery of money and get as many people to get their second stimulus check as possible.

Please note that the method of payment for the second stimulus check sent in the mail may be different from the first, as some people who received a paper check the first time may receive a prepaid debit card this time, and some people who received a prepaid debit card with the first check may now receive a paper one.

The IRS has already sent out almost 70% of stimulus checks but many will not receive them until they file their 2020 taxes

Fixing IRS payment problems could take up to 8 weeks. As the U.S. Treasury Department rushes to distribute the second stimulus check, millions of Americans learned this week that they will not receive the $600 until they file their 2020 tax returns.

The Treasury Department reported this week that it has deposited about 68 percent of the payments and millions of Americans have received their second $600 stimulus check through direct deposit or a check in the mail. However, some people are still waiting to receive their money and others will not receive their deposit until they file their tax returns for 2020.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has not reported how many people will be affected by the requirement, however the National Center for Consumer Law (NCLC) told the Washington Post that it could affect up to 20 million people.

If you use the IRS tool to track your stimulus check payment and get the message “Payment Status #2 – Not Available,” then you will not receive a direct deposit or check payment in the mail according to the IRS.

The IRS has pointed out that individuals should file their 2020 tax return electronically and claim the Recovery Refund Credit on the tax return to get the payment and any other refund more quickly.

This decision has generated outrage from taxpayers on social networks who were counting on that money to buy food or pay bills and services by forcing them to wait to receive their money after filing their taxes.

Also the IRS tool’s message of “state not available” in the IRS tool is confusing thousands of Americans who received their first stimulus check. The agency has mentioned that if a payment is sent to a bank account that has been closed or is no longer active, then the bank must return that money to the IRS. During the first delivery of the stimulus money if a payment was returned in error, the IRS issued a paper check, made the payment through a debit card or allowed people to update their bank account information, but this time that didn’t happen.

A senior official told the Washington Post that fixing payment problems takes up to eight weeks and “the IRS doesn’t have enough time to do that before the 2020 tax season starts.

Some users who used the 2019 tax preparation services of companies like TurboTax, Jackson Hewitt or H&R Block are among the group of people who cannot receive their second stimulus check.

The NCLC accused the IRS of not being ready after several months to prepare for the second installment of financial aid payments where 20 million people could be affected by the failure of the tax preparation companies.

“People who need money now may have to wait months before they can file a tax return and get their refund, unless the tax preparation companies can forward the funds,” said Lauren Saunders, NCLC’s deputy director.

The company H&R Block reported that its clients should receive the payments this Wednesday while TurboTax said in a statement on its website that “the error could be corrected so that the stimulus payments begin to be deposited in the correct bank accounts”.

President-elect Joe Biden has indicated that he could send Americans a new stimulus check of up to $2,000. The proposal could be enacted because Democrats will have control of both houses of Congress, but these latest errors that have led to delays in payment call into question how quickly the money could be redeposited in the middle of the tax season that begins in January and ends on April 15.

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