Coronavirus stimulus checks: Where is the missing money going?

With something this big, there are always going to be some problems, especially when it is rushed.
I hope everybody who need this money gets it soon.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/coronavirus-stimulus-checks-where-is-the-missing-money-going/ar-BB12NCyh?ocid=spartanntp&fbclid=IwAR0ma-RM911xOlHKWUC-2TQSRVkKSefjLLqwB8yxW0O9V1H0lZPHVNFnK38

Dalvin Brown and Jessica Menton, USA TODAY
April 18, 2020

Americans are reaching out to tax preparers and lining up at their offices around the country to find out what happened to their stimulus checks.

One answer: The IRS sent those missing payouts to an intermediary bank account if a client got an advance on their tax return, tax professionals say.

Clients tipped tax preparers off to the problem when they used Get My Payment, the government’s new stimulus deposit tracking portal, and uncovered that the payments of up to $1,200 for individuals were sent to an account number they didn't recognize.

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A tax advance typically works like this: When a tax preparer does a filer’s return, they can loan them a portion of their refund in advance. The IRS will then send the actual refund to the preparer via a bank account set up in the filer’s name. The loan is repaid from the refund and the remaining portion of the refund is returned to the filer.

Everyone from mom-and-pop tax preparers to big chains like TurboTax, H&R Block and Jackson Hewitt have this option, Mathis said.

The issue is that the account where the stimulus payment was deposited didn't belong to the taxpayer. It belonged to the service provider.

"The provider’s bank is supposed to refund the $1,200 payment back to IRS in these cases," says Evan Morgan, tax director at Kaufman Rossin.

Those intermediary accounts tend to only be used for a filer’s refund in previous years, so those accounts likely no longer exist. The IRS hasn’t given out specific guidance yet on how they will reissue stimulus checks if they are deposited in the wrong accounts. But normally if a bank account is closed, a tax refund is rejected and the IRS sends out a paper check to the address that was on the return.

Another possibility is a bank will return those funds if the money lands in the wrong account since the name on the deposit didn't match the name on the person’s bank account, Mathis explained. If the funds are rejected, the IRS would likely issue a paper check to the last address on file, he said.

“For people who have moved, that could be a big problem,” Mathis says. “People are already having a heck of a time trying to update their information on the IRS website.”

The IRS is expected to start sending paper checks on April 24.

"If a payment is returned to the IRS, the agency will mail a check to the taxpayer," according to the Santa Barbara Tax Products Group which takes tax preparation fees out of refunds.

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