The IRS has provided additional information and clarification for taxpayers who used a refund settlement product and are seeing a bank account number they don’t recognize through the Get My Payment tool.
A common question has been “Get My Payment says that my Economic Impact Payment was sent to an account I don’t recognize. Why is that, and how do I get my payment?”
The IRS site shows:
“When some taxpayers file their tax return, they may choose an option available from their tax preparer or software provider to help them pay their fees, get their refund more quickly or even load the refund onto a direct debit card. This group of different products is referred to as refund settlement products. In these situations, taxpayers may:
- Use a banking product to help them complete the tax filing transaction, sometimes referred to as a Refund Anticipation Loan (RAL) or a Refund Anticipation Check (RAC).
- Choose to have their tax refund loaded onto a debit card provided by a variety of groups in the tax and financial communities.
When you filed your tax return, if you chose a refund settlement product for direct deposit purposes, you may have received a prepaid debit card. In some cases, your Economic Impact Payment may have been directed to the bank account associated with the refund settlement product or prepaid debit card.
If the refund settlement product or the associated account is closed or no longer active, the bank is required to reject the deposit and return it to the IRS. The “Get My Payment” app will be updated once the returned payment to the IRS is processed. Timing of this process depends on several variables, including when and how the payments are rejected and returned to the IRS, when “Get My Payment” updates, and when taxpayers check the tool.
Once the returned payment is processed by the IRS, the payment will automatically be mailed to the address on the 2019 or 2018 tax return, or the address on file with the U.S. Postal Service – whichever is more current, and the status in Get My Payment will update accordingly.
The IRS also noted that there was a reporting error that started showing up in recent days on Get My Payment, which inaccurately indicated rejected payments were being sent back to the same taxpayer account a second time. They are actually being mailed to the taxpayers. The IRS has quickly taken steps to correct this reporting error. Get My Payment will be updated starting Tuesday, April 21 to reflect that the taxpayer’s payment has actually been mailed; not rerouted to a closed bank account.”