Ken Santema IRS

IRS tool for tax return filers to check economic impact payment and provide direct deposit

Make sure to provide banking info to the IRS for timely payment!

The IRS has launched a tool on its website for use with the economic impact payments. Taxpayers can utilize this tool to see the payment status, confirm the payment type (direct deposit or check), and provide bank information for direct deposit (in some cases). This site is only meant for taxpayers that have filed a 2019 or 2018 tax return. People who are eligible to receive a payment, but didn’t file a return, have a separate online tool to provide direct deposit information, and I will do a post about that tomorrow. This post will focus on tax return filers. 

What can be done in the tool

The tool launched by the IRS for tax return filers can do the following three things in regards to the economic impact payment:

  • Check payment status. The amount of payment is not shown. It only shows if you are eligible and the current status of the payment.
  • Check the payment type. This will show whether your money is scheduled to be delivered by direct deposit or check.
  • Enter bank account information for direct deposit. This is only available if the IRS doesn’t already have this information. See below for more details.

Logging into the tool

Logging into the tool was simple. When I logged into the tool, I had to provide the following:

  • Social Security Number
  • Date of Birth
  • Street Address
  • ZIP Code

It doesn’t say in the FAQ, but I’m guessing the street address and ZIP code have to match what was on the last tax return filed (2019 or 2018).

Who can not enter direct deposit information

Before discussing who can enter direct deposit information, I will focus on who can’t enter direct deposit information. Here is the list of who cannot enter direct deposit information:

  • 2019 tax filers who provided direct deposit information for their refund. The IRS will use the bank account information from the 2019 tax return. There is no way to change this information via the online tool.
  • 2018 tax filers (and haven’t filed a 2019 return) who provided direct deposit information or their refund. Similar to the 2019 filers, 2018 filers are unable to change their direct deposit information. But the direct deposit and/or address to mail a check can easily be updated for these taxpayers by filing a 2019 tax return. That has to be done before payment has been sent.

Who can enter direct deposit information

Basically, anyone who filed a 2019 return (or 2018 if they didn’t file 2019) and didn’t enter direct deposit information will be able to use this tool to provide direct deposit information. This just has to be done before the IRS cuts the check. People who owed taxes on their 2019 (or 2018) return and paid by direct debit will also want to utilize this tool!

One interesting thing I found out when logging into the site is that I had to provide direct deposit information. For the tax year 2019, my wife and I owed taxes when filing our tax return. We paid those taxes with a direct debit from our account when electronically filing our taxes. Apparently, providing the bank information in that manner did not count in regards to this tool as providing direct deposit information. I entered my direct deposit information to ensure the economic impact payment goes straight into our account.

What information was needed to provide payment

Even when logged into the tool, you must provide extra information to verify your identity. Before letting me put in my account information, I had to provide the following information from my 2019 tax return:

  • Adjusted Gross Income.
  • Whether there was a refund or balance due.
  • How much the refund or taxes due was.

All three pieces of information are taken directly from the 1040.

After entering the above information, I was then able to enter the bank routing and account number for direct deposit.

Pretty useful tool

While the tool doesn’t do a lot, it is pretty useful. With this tool, the IRS has provided a simple way for people to check on the status of their economic impact payment. Plus, some people can provide direct deposit information. Providing direct deposit information will speed the IRS’s ability to distribute these payments.

If you have any questions about the tool, I would check the FAQ provided by the IRS. There really is a lot of information there!

Tomorrow I will have a post detailing what taxpayers who don’t file a tax return should do to provide payment information to the IRS. Stay tuned!

Ken Santema IRS

Some adults won’t get the economic impact payment

Yesterday we published a blog explaining who gets the economic impact payment (stimulus check) from the IRS. Since that post, there have been quite a few people concerned about who doesn’t get a check. In this post, I will focus on three groups of adults that won’t get a stimulus check.

Adults who exceed the AGI limitations

As mentioned in the previous post, there are AGI limitations as to who gets the stimulus check. Adults who filed a 2019 or 2018 return and exceeded the AGI limitations will either get a reduced stimulus check or even no stimulus check. Below are the AGI cutoffs for the three types of tax filers.

Type of filerAGI limit for full checkAGI limit for reduced check
Individual filers$75,000$99,000
Head of household filers$112,500$136,500
Married couples filing joint$150,000$198,000

Dependents over the age of 16

The only dependents that will get a stimulus check are qualifying dependents age 16 or younger. And those stimulus checks of $500 will go to the adult that claimed those dependents as qualifying children on their tax return. That means to get the qualifying child stimulus check, a tax return claiming that child must have been filed in the tax year 2019 (or 2018 if 2019 was not submitted).

Anyone claimed as a dependent that is over the age of 16 will not receive any stimulus check. College students who are still claimed by their parents are the adults that will likely be impacted by this policy. But, the person claiming that college student is likely already getting a much more extensive education credit or deduction on their regular tax return.

There are many other occasions where adults will claim other adults on their tax returns. Some other examples of adults claiming other adults as dependents include (but are not limited to): people taking care of disabled persons, people claiming a girlfriend/boyfriend they are taking care of, and people taking care of a parent. In all of these cases, the adult being claimed as a dependent will not receive a stimulus check. Additionally, the person claiming the other adult will not receive the extra $500 qualifying child payment because that person being claimed is not under the age of 17.

People without Social Security numbers

Generally speaking, those without a social security number will not be eligible for the stimulus check. The IRS is using each adult’s tax return (1040), social security tax form (SSA-1099), or railroad retirement form (RRB-1099) to determine eligibility for the economic impact payment. A social security number is used in each of these forms to identify individuals.

Also, if a couple filed a joint tax return, and one of them did not have a social security number, neither of those people will get a stimulus check. This policy could negatively impact a taxpayer who has recently married someone from a foreign country, and that spouse has not yet received a social security number. There is an exception to this policy, which allows military families to receive the stimulus check still.

Some of the above policies may change

It should be noted that qualifications may change. Initially, only those filing tax returns in 2019 or 2018 were eligible for the stimulus check. After heated feedback, the IRS reinterpreted the law passed to qualify social security and railroad retirement recipients. The IRS could conceivably reinterpret parts of the code again and change the eligibility requirements. Congress could also pass an updated stimulus package, which in turn may modify eligibility for the stimulus check. If any changes are made to the economic payment program, we will continue to pass that information along.