Although millions of Americans have already received their coronavirus stimulus checks, millions of others have not. The IRS set up a tool allowing taxpayers to provide their banking information so they can receive their checks via direct deposit, but the tools hasn’t been working perfectly. The good news is that the tool seems to be working better than it was, so if you haven’t provided your banking information yet, you might want to.
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The IRS' new tool is called Get My Payment, and it's available here. To look up the status of your coronavirus stimulus check, you'll need to enter your social security number, date of birth, street address and zip code. The tool should then say whether you are eligible to receive an economic impact payment and whether the IRS has your banking information.
If the agency doesn't have your banking information, it will offer the opportunity enter it so you can receive your coronavirus stimulus check via direct deposit. To enter banking information, you will need to have your most recently filed tax return available. The tool requires you to enter the amount of your income and the amount you owed or received back on your last tax return.
Many people reported receive "status not available" or other errors when they try to use. "Status not available" means either the tool doesn't have your information yet or that you are not eligible to receive a payment. You may also get this error message if the IRS hasn't finished processing your 2019 tax return or if you don't usually file a return and you used the non-filers tool or receive an SSA or RRB Form 1099 or SSI or VA benefits.
If you don't file taxes, you should use the tool for non-filers here.
When should you expect your payment?
If you're one of the millions of Americans who are still waiting for their coronavirus stimulus checks, you may be wondering when it will arrive. Guidelines from the House Committee on Ways and Means provide some details.
If you provide your banking information to receive it via direct deposit, you should receive it the week after you submit the information if you submitted it no later than Thursday. The IRS started mailing out paper checks this week, so if you still want to wait for a paper check, it is still possible. However, some of those who wait for paper checks will wait as long as 20 weeks. The checks are being sent first to taxpayers with the lowest income, which means those with higher incomes will be waiting longer to receive their economic impact payments.
