The IRS has insisted there are no problems with the delivery of the $1,200 stimulus checks, while thousands of Americans claim they are be...
The IRS has insisted there are no problems with the delivery of the $1,200 stimulus checks, while thousands of Americans claim they are being sent to the wrong accounts and say banks are pocketing the much-needed funds if they are overdrawn.
Parents of young children have reported missing out on the $500 check for their dependent children and Americans who use popular online tax preparation services such as H&R Block, TurboTax and Jackson Hewitt say they have been left out of the payment run.
The latest fiasco in the emergency coronavirus payments comes after the system went into meltdown yesterday - the day the first Americans started receiving their checks and the online portal launched.
Desperate taxpayers voiced outrage as the website kept crashing, many were told they may not be eligible for a dime and bereaved relatives were traumatized by blunders that meant checks were sent to people who have been dead for years, while thousands in dire need of money received nothing.
Desperate Americans took to social media to complain after their much-needed $1,200 stimulus checks have been sent to the wrong accounts
But amid the ongoing saga, the IRS has continued to insist there are no problems with the process, congratulating itself on Twitter that the payments have been made 'on schedule, as planned and without delay'.
Thousands of people have now discovered that their deposits have been sent to the wrong bank accounts.
Americans expecting the financial boost on Wednesday were left confused as their bank accounts lay empty.
When they checked the online portal, many found the cash was sent to a bank account that doesn't belong to them.
Aimme Saldana, a warehouse worker in California, told USA Today that the digits of the bank account her money has been sent to do not match any account she owns.
'I was so confused,' she said. 'I don't know where they got that number from. I lost two weeks of pay because I was sick. I was depending on that for my car payment.'
Chris Rodriguez, a contractor in Michigan, said he was baffled to discover the same mistake was made with his payment, given he has been using the same bank account for almost a decade.
'You're jubilant because you've been waiting to get that money. And you look down and the bank account number is not even close,' Rodriguez told USA Today.
'Because the IRS isn't taking calls, I'm more or less dead in the water.'
Social media has been flooded with similar reports, as the mistake could prove costly for the millions of Americans out of work amid the pandemic.
New figures from the Labor Department Thursday showed another 5.2 million people filed for first-time unemployment claims in the last week ending April 11 meaning a staggering 22 million people are now out of work due to the coronavirus pandemic.
One distraught taxpayer posted on social media: 'great my stimulus check got sent to the wrong bank account I cannot find any information on how to even talk to the IRS about this issue now it looks like I'm just s*** out of luck great I really needed this money.'
Another simply Tweeted: '@ the irs sent my stimulus check to the wrong bank account... mental breakdown.'
On Wednesday the first Americans started receiving their checks and the online portal launched but the system has been plagued with issues at a time when Americans are in desperate need of money
'The @irs sent my boyfriends stimulus check to the WRONG bank account number. When we FINALLY got ahold of someone at the irs, they literally that there is no one trained on handling stimulus information. Let's see if @RepDLambornoffice can help?,' posted another.
Social media users are blasting the IRS urging the agency to come clean that the system has fallen into chaos.
'The IRS is sending Stimulus Checks to the wrong bank accounts and people who are Dead! My 70 year old Father is receiving Social Security benefits by Direct Deposit! NO PENDING TRANSACTIONS! Why doesn't the IRS just admit it! We F***ed Up !!' one person Tweeted.
However, despite the agency being inundated with tweets about the issue, an IRS spokesperson told USA TODAY they hadn't heard anything about stimulus checks being deposited into the wrong bank accounts.
In a Twitter post on Wednesday afternoon, the agency even congratulated itself over the service, triggering a backlash from outraged taxpayers.
'Thanks to hard work and long hours by dedicated #IRS employees, Economic Impact Payments are going out on schedule, as planned, without delay, to the nation. The IRS employees are delivering these payments in record time. #COVIDreliefIRS,' the post read.
The IRS did not immediately return DailyMail.com's request for comment.
Concerning reports have also surfaced that some banks are pocketing the emergency money if customer accounts are overdrawn.
Some banks are putting the $1,200 deposits toward negative balances in customer accounts, meaning already broke taxpayers are still left without a dime, the New York Times reported Thursday.
One Minneapolis woman told the Times that the $2,400 check sent to her and her disabled veteran husband - that they desperately need to pay rent and feed their infant daughter - had disappeared because their USAA account was overdrawn.
In South Carolina, Safe Federal Credit Union kept the entire $1,200 stimulus payment sent to one man because his account was $2,650 in the red.
Concerning reports have also surfaced that some banks are pocketing the emergency money if customer accounts are overdrawn
Democrat candidate for Texas Mike Siegel blasted the process on social media, as banks are being propped up by the emergency funds meant to help the American public.
'Absolutely obscene. A violation of every ounce of trust the people have in Congress. This money is for food, medicine, housing. The essentials of life,' he Tweeted.
'If private banks want to collect debts from our stimulus checks, we need to rethink banking.'
One social media user said: 'So it's yet another corporate bail out. Great.'
Another person posted: 'Banks win again: those $1,200 checks heading to your account? Banks can siphon off any amount you might owe them.'
Americans reportedly have no legal right to demand the money back from their banks, The American Prospect reported this week, marking a major blow for many households that lost their jobs almost a month ago when states began going into lockdown.
The first lockdown was issued on March 20 in California, meaning people impacted by the first bout of layoffs have already waited almost a month for federal aid to kick in - no doubt racking up debt and becoming overdrawn on their bank accounts in the process.
The three banking giants JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and Bank of America have all publicly pledged that they will not collect the money for negative balances.
Parents of dependent children are also out of pocket because the IRS has missed off the $500 payments designed for every child under 17, according to the Washington Post.
Despite the series of blunders the IRS continues to insist that there are no problems and even congratulated itself over the service
Several parents say they received a $1,200 payment for a single head of household or a $2,400 check for a couple but have not been given the $500 promised for each child.
Meanwhile, experts and social media users have spotted a worrying trend among the several million people across the US who file their taxes using popular online services including H&R Block, TurboTax and Jackson Hewitt.
Customers raised the alarm on social media that the payments they were expecting Wednesday did not materialize, raising growing fears that they will face hefty delays because the IRS does not have their direct deposit information on file.
Consumer law expert Vijay Raghavan told the Post that the IRS does not have these people’s direct deposit information on file if they received an advance on their tax refund from these service companies.
This could impact around 21 million taxpayers, he warned.
IRS and Treasury officials told The Post they were aware of the issues and were working to fix them.
The latest issues come hot on the heels of a series of complaints raised Wednesday - the day the payments began being deposited in American's accounts and the IRS's online tool launch to help Americans track their checks launched.
A sample check is pictured: The federal aid package for Americans has been plagued with issues over the last 24 hours
Hundreds of stimulus checks are sent to people who have been dead for years
While Americans on the breadline reported their bank accounts still sitting empty, hundreds of people on social media spoke out about checks being paid into dead relatives accounts.
'Deceased people are receiving stimulus checks today. My grandmother passed away in 2018 — and $1,200 was deposited in her bank account today,' one person posted on Twitter Wednesday.
US Representative Thomas Massie posted a photo of a text from a friend which read: 'Dad got his stimulus check of $1200. He died in [redacted] 2018. Does he have to spend it online?'
In at least two cases in South Carolina, the IRS sent checks to people who died months ago.
People have spoken out on social media about checks being paid into dead relatives accounts
Two separate bereaved relatives told Fits News that checks had arrived for their dead family members.
'My father-in-law died just before Christmas last year,' one person said, noting that the man's bank account had received the $1,200 boost from the government.
Meanwhile, one woman said a check had landed into her mother's account - who died around Thanksgiving.
'I can't believe all deceased people would get a check!' she told Fit News.
Widows and widowers are reporting payments for two checks - one for them and one for their deceased partners.
Alongside the emotional toll that the blunder is taking, questions are being asked over whether they have to return the payments.
'My mom got two stimulus checks (one for her the other for my dad who is deceased). He passed in 2018 and she hasn't filed single yet on 2019's taxes. Long story short, does she have to give that extra $1200 back?' one person Tweeted.
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