Coronavirus stimulus: How to ensure you get your check at your new address

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Though there is no surety of another round of stimulus checks, significant progress has been made by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin in negotiations. In case the two reach an agreement, you should make sure all is prepared to ensure you get your check in a timely fashion. For instance, if you move to a new location, but you haven’t changed your address, then your coronavirus stimulus checks could end up at the wrong address.

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Coronavirus stimulus checks: how to get payment at new address

In case Congress approves another broader relief package, the IRS, as with the CARES Act, will send some payments as direct deposits, some by mail, and also by EIP card. If you changed your address recently, but the IRS has your direct deposit information, then you have nothing to worry about.

However, if you moved to a new location recently and haven’t changed your address yet, and the last payment you received by mail or EIP card, then it is very likely that your future coronavirus stimulus check could get delivered to the wrong address.

You can easily prevent this. All you need to do is update your mailing address and then inform the IRS of the same. If you don’t know how to do it, then detailed below are the steps to change your mailing address with the IRS.

Steps to change your address

First, go to the website usps.com/move.

Second, fill out the form to change your mailing address. Here you need to give your contact information, old address, new address, date when you want mail to be sent to the new address, etc. After filling out the form, verify that the information entered is accurate, and then click Next.

Third, you now need to make the payment to change your mailing address. It costs $1.05 to change your address. You can’t use prepaid credit or debit cards to make the payment.

Fourth, after you make the payment, you will get a confirmation email that your request for the change of address is filed. You will also get a USPS Confirmation Notification Letter and welcome kit at your new address.

As per USPS, it could take between three days to two weeks before you start getting mail at your new address.

After you have changed the address with USPS, you also need to inform the IRS about it so that your coronavirus stimulus check arrives at the right address. To inform the IRS, you can either fill out Form 8822 or sent a letter to the IRS about the same. You can also do it over the phone.

If you plan to send a letter, then you need to mention your full name, old and new address, Social Security number, individual taxpayer identification number or employer identification number and your signature. The IRS may take about four to six weeks to process your address change application.