NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Tax prep companies are once again in the middle of the stimulus payment rollout and the delay may take weeks to resolve.
It seems like deja vu for companies like Fax Tax who say customers have called to say their stimulus payment was sent to an account they’re not familiar with. We reported back in April that several stimulus payments were sent from the IRS to accounts belonging to the tax prep companies. These accounts are used primarily for tax refund advances.
Renee Roberts owns Fax Tax and says some customers sign up to pay for their tax prep services from their tax refund. The money is sent to an account held by Fax Tax, Roberts takes her fee and the rest is sent to the customer via direct deposit.
The direct deposit information is based on whatever the IRS has on file and in some cases, that’s only the account information of these tax prep offices.
Roberts says she was relieved to get a notice from her bank saying they would take proactive measures this time around.
“It’s a night and day difference this time,” Roberts said.
Instead of waiting on guidance for what to do with the money, they’ve decided to immediately send any payments back to the IRS.
The policy by the IRS is to either send the payment to your bank account if they have one on file. People have reported money being sent to old bank accounts, leaving them in limbo on what to do next.
“I had one man call and it looked like that it had been deposited, but to the wrong account,” Roberts said.
If the IRS does not have an account on file, they will resort to paper checks sent to the address you used to file your 2019 tax return.
Places like H&R Block stated via Twitter saying in part, “we processed millions of stimulus payments to customers’ bank accounts and onto our Emerald Prepaid Mastercard yesterday, and all direct deposits are on their way.”
They continued by directing customers to check the IRS “Get My Payment” website here.
There you can find out where your stimulus was deposited and when you can expect payment. If the tracker says your information is not available then your only option is to claim a tax credit when you file your taxes this year.
TurboTax issued a statement of their own saying the “IRS error” sent payments to the wrong accounts and they’ve “been working tirelessly on a solution with the Treasury and the IRS. As a result, our expectation now is that within days the error will be corrected and stimulus payments will begin being deposited into the correct bank accounts.”
The IRS has not said how many people have yet to receive their second round of stimulus payments.
