AARP: Stimulus payments sent to dead people. $1.4 B worth. 😠

[sprinkleeninow]

The federal government sent stimulus payments to about 1.1 million dead people totaling nearly $1.4 billion. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) finally has an answer: Give the money back.

[I sound like a broken record. Yes, I know. Still haven't gotten my payment. Everything on file/account is in order. I called House Ways and Means Cmte. four times. Nada.]

https://www.aarp.org/money/taxes/info-2020/stimulus-check-in-deceased-name.html

[azureblue]

1. and the dead reply

"what you gonna do, take us to jail?""

[catrose]

2. A lawyer friend received a check for a client made out to Joe Doe, Deceased

He hadn't recei ved his own, though. Still a few bugs in the system.

[global1]

3. Seriously - What Does This Mean?....

How do they know now that they sent stimulus payments to dead people? How did they just find out now and not before these were sent?

I don't think they sent cash. If they sent checks - they can't be cashed. The person it was sent to is dead.

I suppose if they made an automatic deposit to a bank account some of their bank accounts might still be open. When my mother passed I kept a joint bank account I shared with her open for a year just in case any lingering bills came up.

I suppose if a person died from Covid - a check might have gone to them in the transition.

But really 1.1 million dead people? That money must be recoverable.

Has anyone said how this will be dealt with?

I'll volunteer to work on the recovery of this money if I can get a 10% finders/recovery fee.

Just thinking about this maybe that's a scam that Trump & the Repugs had in mind. They probably awarded a contract for such a deal to one of Trump's cronies already. Trump will probably get a kickback.

Who's checking on this?

How do they recover Social Security money that is automatcally deposited - when they find out a person died in the interim?

[Princess Turandot]

5. WaPo has an article that explains one significant source of the error..

They used tax return filings for 2018 and 2019 to identify people qualifying for a payment. Given that around 2.3 million people die annually, there were undoubtedly quite a few people who filed returns in those periods but died post-filing. While the Social Security Admin has detail records on deaths, those records weren't available to the Treasury Dept/IRS. That was also the case when stimulus checks were distributed in 2008.

In a 2013 review of what happened in 2008, the GAO noted the issue and recommended that the pertinent records be shared in the event of a similar distribution. However, in their rush to make the 2020 payments, they did not take the time to do this. When the GAO recently took a look at the 2020 payments, I assume they were able to get the SSA records to run against the Treasury disbursement records: that allowed them to determine payments to the dead.

The Cares Act directed the stimulus payments to people who filed a 2018 or 2019 tax return. The payments went to people making up to $99,000 annually. According to the GAO, IRS officials raised questions with Treasury as the Cares Act was being drafted about the possibility that payments could go to people who filed tax returns but subsequently died. However, IRS counsel determined they did not have the legal authority to deny payments to people who had filed a return, even if they were deceased at the time of payment.

Also, Treasury officials noted that the Cares Act mandated delivery of the economic impact payments “as rapidly as possible.” To fulfill this mandate, they used procedures that had been put in place for stimulus payments issued in 2008, and as a result did not use death records as a filter. The GAO noted that in 2013 it had identified weaknesses in IRS procedures that allowed payments to go to dead people, and had recommended corrective action. IRS subsequently implemented a process to use death records to update taxpayers’ accounts to identify and prevent improper payments.
(snip)
But this control was bypassed for the stimulus checks issued under the Cares Act, which “substantially increased the risk of potentially making improper payments to decedents,” the GAO said. It also said that according to a Treasury official from the Office of Tax Policy, Treasury had been unaware that payments might go to dead people.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2020/06/25/irs-stimulus-checks-dead-people-gao/

[SammyWinstonJack]

4. My very much alive son has yet to receive a stimulus check/deposit.

[GreenPartyVoter]

7. My two college aged kids are still waiting.

[former9thward]

8. If they are in college and claimed as dependents they are not eligible.

[GreenPartyVoter]

9. And yet they eat a ton of food and I have to feed them. How is that fair?

[former9thward]

10. As Jimmy Carter once said, "Life is not fair."

Maybe that is why is lost.

[GreenPartyVoter]

11. Or maybe some Americans shouldn't be left out?

[bdjhawk]

6. Direct deposit payment was made

to my late mother‘s account that I am joint tenant on. I started calling to let them know but that was when so many people were calling to get their payments and I couldn’t get through.

[sprinkleeninow]

12. A week or so ago I was on the phone over 2 hours for IRS making sure they had my new PO Box

address on file from last year. They confirmed. The 2nd agent also said they're aware my husband's deceased. I now receive his benefit as survivor status. But, I've been receiving my own reduced benefit from 7 years ago. My DD banking info. has not changed ever. The first hour wasted call, the agent patched me thru to that newer number to call for info on where the freak is my payment.
Wasted my time. I dint ask for that. Next hour I spoke to that agent who gave me a semblance of reassurance and some peace.

It's screwed up. What else is new...

[WyattKansas]

13. I have a solution that would save them some time...

Just give it to me and it will be put to a good honorable use... Okay, that just blew it for Republican support of my idea.