Why stimulus payments are delayed and how to track your status

As the IRS deadline to disburse checks nears millions of Americans are still left waiting for their checks. Those who are left waiting on stimulus payments also tend to feel that they have not been properly prepared to understand what’s holding up their money, even when checking their payment status. Find all that information here, plus what you’ll need to do to get your $600 if it’s not sent before the IRS stops stimulus payment disbursal.

Why are stimulus payments delayed?

Payments have been delayed for a number of reasons. If you’re left waiting for your check, find out why your payment may be on hold, how to understand your payment status and what you’ll need to do to get your stimulus money.

Checks to outdated addresses or mis-delivery

Because the IRS pulls data on Americans from information on their last-filed tax forms, it’s likely that millions of people had their stimulus checks delivered to an address where they no longer live. The strain that the #coronavirus pandemic has placed on the USPS also means that there are considerable delays and room for errors in delivery, meaning checks could have been mis-delivered as well.

Deposits to closed bank accounts

Similar to the issue encountered with paper checks being delivered to wrong addresses, if the IRS has outdated information on the bank accounts of direct payment recipients they will attempt to send money to an outdated or closed bank account. If the bank notifies the IRS of the mistake, they’ll cut a paper check to those recipients. This causes further delays for Americans waiting on their payment, and isn’t a method which is immune to issues either.

Unable to disperse in time

The IRS has a deadline of January 15th, 2021 to disburse payments. After that date, payments will not be sent by the IRS, even if they haven’t made all the payments to qualified Americans who are waiting for them. Americans who, just by pure bad fortune, don’t get their check disbursed in time will not be receiving their payment in the form of a check, direct deposit, or EIP card and will have to wait even longer than most.

What does my payment status mean?

The IRS’s Get My Payment tool is currently the only way for Americans to track the status of their second stimulus payment, though many have trouble deciphering what the payment status readouts actually mean when they try to use the tool. If your payment status sounds confusing or undescriptive, here’s some information that could help you clear up what’s actually going on with your payment.

“Please try again later”

This message can appear for one of two reasons, either:

1. You entered the wrong information three times in the last 24 hours, or
2. You have already logged in five times within the past 24 hours.

If you’re seeing this message, make sure that you check all information required in the Get My Payment submission forms and your login information to be sure they’re correct. For submission forms, remember that this will be based on your last filed tax information which could be outdated to you, but still “right” to the IRS.

Once you’ve secured and checked all of your required information wait a day to allow the IRS system to reset your login count or failed form attempts and try again.

“Need more information”

This appears if the IRS needs you to submit your bank information. Though, at this point, the IRS has stopped accepting direct deposit information. In these cases, the IRS may instead mail you a paper check if new information isn’t submitted. If the IRS has not yet issued you a paper check or EIP card by January 15th 2021, this status may change to reflect that you will not be receiving a payment.

“Payment sent” (but not received by you)

There could be a few variables at play that could change why you’re seeing this message. Here are the most common reasons, based on whether your Get My Payment report says you should be receiving their funds by mail or by direct deposit.

For paper check or EIP card recipients

If you see that your payment was sent in the mail, but it’s been over two to three weeks since that date, or the address they’re sending your check to is one where you don’t live, you can be pretty certain that your check was mis-delivered. If you’d like to wait it out a little longer to see if your check is just delayed in the mail, you can do that.

Unlike a package delivery service, it’s not possible to track your payment in the mail, but it could still be on the way. If checks or EIP cards are mis-delivered, lost or stolen on the first attempt, however, those recipients will not be receiving their payment as a check or card.

For direct deposit recipients

If you’re seeing this message, but you don’t see a $600 deposit in your bank account, check the last four digits of the account the IRS sent your payment to and use that information to troubleshoot some of these common issues with direct deposits.

First, check to see if your account and the account that appears in your Get My Payment report match. If the last four digits of the account the IRS sent your payment to and the last four digits of your bank account are different, the payment was sent to the wrong account.

• If you recognize the last four digits of the account listed and that account is still open, you should find your direct deposit payment there.
• If you recognize the account number listed, but know that the account listed by the IRS is now closed, the IRS may be in the process of cutting you a paper check or EIP card to the last address they have on file for you. If they can’t do this by January 15th, however, you won’t receive a payment in the mail.
• If you don’t recognize the bank account listed and have used an online tax preparation service in the past, it’s possible that your payment was mistakenly delivered to a temporary account that was set up by that online tax service when they last helped you file a tax return. Some people still received successful direct deposits after this happened, but others will have to be sent a paper check or EIP card instead. If the IRS can’t disburse your card or check by January 15th, however, you won’t receive a payment in the mail.

“Payment Not Available”

There are a few reasons you could be seeing this message: You don’t qualify to receive a $600 stimulus package,

1. The IRS tried to send you funds, but ran into issues and was unable to re-issue a payment in time, or
2. The IRS didn’t have time to issue your payment before the January 15th deadline for stimulus payment disbursal.

Since there is little information provided, you’ll have to figure out which of these explanations is the likely case in your situation. The good news is that, as long as you qualified originally to receive a payment you can still claim the $600, just not in the form of a stimulus payment.

How can I get my stimulus money?

The good news is that you still can get $600 even if you aren't disbursed a payment through direct deposit, paper check or EIP card, however there may be further delays and more steps you need to take in order to claim it.

The Recovery Rebate Credit

If your $600 payment doesn’t disbursed to you from the IRS before January 15th, 2021, you can still claim that money in your upcoming tax return. What would have been a direct payment, can now be claimed as the Recovery Rebate Credit. Even if you don’t normally file taxes, or aren’t required to file taxes for 2020, you will still be required to fill out tax forms to claim your $600.

Will you be claiming the Recovery Rebate Credit? Let us know below.