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Regulation and Compliance > Federal Regulation > IRS

IRS’ New ‘Get My Payment’ Tool Frustrates Users

By Jeff Berman

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IRS Payment Status Not Available Taxpayers who filled out the form were met with this message on Wednesday.

The online tool launched Wednesday by the Internal Revenue Service and Treasury Department was designed to provide a way for Americans to easily check on the status of their Economic Impact Payments, but Twitter was quickly filled with complaints that it wasn’t providing any information at all.

The “Get My Payment” tool launched Wednesday on IRS.gov. Users enter their Social Security Number, date of birth, street address and ZIP code. The tool is then supposed to provide the status of each user’s payment, including the date their payment is scheduled to be deposited into their bank account or mailed to them.

However, many users of the tool complained on Twitter that the only message they received after entering the requested information was “Payment Status Not Available” in large black type, followed in smaller type by “According to information that we have on file, we cannot determine your eligibility for a payment at this time. For more information on the eligibility rules, see our Frequently Asked Questions page.”

ThinkAdvisor received the same message multiple times Wednesday. However, when we tried again later in the afternoon, we received a slightly different message, saying: “Please Try Again Later. We are unable to provide you with the status of your payment or perform the action requested because:

  • The tax return information you entered does not match our records; or
  • You have already accessed the system the maximum number of times today.

Please come back after 24 hours and try again.”

The IRS and Treasury Department didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

In announcing the tool’s launch, the Treasury Department said it also allows taxpayers who filed their tax returns in 2018 or 2019 but did not provide their banking information on either return to submit direct deposit information. Once users do that, “they will get their Economic Impact Payments deposited directly in their bank accounts, instead of waiting for a check to arrive in the mail,” it said, noting the tool was launched on what would have been Tax Day if not for the coronavirus pandemic.

“With an initial round of more than 80 million Economic Impact Payments starting to hit bank accounts over the weekend and throughout this week, this new tool will help address key common questions,” the IRS said in a separate statement on the launch. “Get My Payment will show the projected date when a deposit has been scheduled, similar to the ‘Where’s My Refund tool’ many taxpayers are already familiar with,” it said.

The new tool will be updated once daily, “usually overnight,” the IRS said, adding it “urges taxpayers to only use ‘Get My Payment’ once a day given the large number of people receiving Economic Impact Payments.”

“Get My Payment” followed last week’s launch of a non-filer tool that the IRS and Treasury Department said enables quick registration to receive Economic Impact Payments — also known as Recovery Rebates — faster and was designed to “help millions of people” who don’t usually file a tax return.

SSI Recipients

On Wednesday afternoon, the IRS announced that recipients of Supplemental Security Income would receive Economic Impact payments automatically. Like many Social Security recipients, who will also be paid automatically, many SSI recipients don’t file tax returns.

But recipients in both groups with children under 17 will need to use the online tool for non-filers in order to get dependent payment quickly. “If beneficiaries in these groups do not provide their information to the IRS soon, they will have to wait until later to receive their $500 per qualifying child,” the IRS said in a statement.

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Jeff Berman

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