An IRS technical glitch might be why you haven’t received your stimulus check

Is your bank account still barren, awaiting that promised government cheddar in the form of a stimulus check? Well, you’re not alone, with a new report in The Washington Post cataloging a number of glitches in the system that are affecting how the IRS can distribute the funds.

The biggest problem? People who used the big tax preparation services like H&R Block, TurboTax, and Jackson Hewitt to file their taxes every year haven’t seen a dime yet. That’s because of how these companies work.

See, when you file with one of the big companies, the IRS actually sends your refund to them first, then they deduct their fees and send you the remainder. That means the IRS doesn’t actually have your bank details, so they can’t send you a direct deposit. That probably means you’ll get a paper check sent out, but you’ll have to wait for the IRS to print ones with President Trump’s signature on.

READ MORE: TurboTax lied about free tax filing and could owe you money

Other issues include getting the message “Payment Status Not Available” when checking on your check. That’s often down to the IRS not processing your 2019 return yet, so again, you’ll have to wait until that’s done. Some people have been getting a glitch when they tried to apply for the stimulus who either didn’t owe taxes or did not file in 2018 or 2019 for whatever reasons.

Oh, and if you try accessing the IRS site too many times – you’ll get put into timeout making any existing glitches even worse. Some users are also finding that the IRS won’t let them change their banking details, as a fraud prevention measure.

Even taxpayers who have already received their checks aren’t immune to issues. People are finding out they received incorrect amounts or didn’t get the additional $500 for each dependent child under 17. One firefighter in Indiana had a shock of the other direction, with the IRS depositing over $8 million dollars into his account by mistake, which they rectified quickly.

The IRS is aware of these issues and says they are working on fixes. If you have still not received your check, you can go to the IRS portal and see if it gives you any actionable information.

What do you think? Have you been having issues with the IRS website? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.

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Joe Rice-Jones

Maker, meme-r, and unabashed geek with nearly half a decade of blogging experience. If it runs on electricity (or even if it doesn't), Joe probably has one around his office somewhere. His hobbies include photography, animation, and hoarding Reddit gold.