What to Do If You Don't Get Your Coronavirus Stimulus Check by January 15
Some inside tips on making sure you get paid.
By Aman Jain •
This story originally appeared on ValueWalk
The IRS started sending out stimulus checks earlier this year, and millions of eligible Americans have already received their payment. The federal government is required to send out all the stimulus payments by Jan. 15. In case you don't get your coronavirus stimulus check by Jan. 15 or have no information about it by then, the below-mentioned tips could help you.
Related: Don't Fall for These Coronavirus Stimulus Check Scams
Check status with IRS
If you don't get the payment by January 15, then the first thing you need to do is check the status of your payment on the IRS Get My Payment tool. Here you will get information about if your payment was sent, whether your payment was sent via direct deposit or by mail and more.
If the tool says the payment was sent to a bank account, but that account is not yours, then it is likely that you used a tax prep firm to file your 2019 tax returns. If such is the case, you need to contact your tax prep firm to know the status of your payment. The IRS and the tax prep firms are said to be working on resolving the issue.
If the tool says the IRS mailed you a paper stimulus check or debit card, then you should wait for a few days. At the time of the first coronavirus stimulus checks also, there were numerous concerns regarding the delays by the United States Postal Service. If you got the first stimulus check through the mail or debit card, then it is likely that your second payment would also arrive in the same way.
Contact MetaBank
Another thing you could do if you don't get the payment by Jan. 15 is to contact MetaBank, which issues debit cards. The bank can tell you if there is a payment record in your name.
Claim the payment on your tax return
If you don't get the stimulus payment by month's end, then you might have to use a different method to get your payment. You will have to claim the payment as a Recovery Rebate Credit on your 2020 tax return.
Claiming your payment by filing a tax return could be a complicated process for people who aren't required to file taxes because their income is below the necessary threshold. They could find themselves doing a lot of paperwork to claim their payment.
Even those who normally file a return, claiming the payment would require additional paperwork and delay as well. The agency won't start accepting tax returns for 2020 until the end of this month.
After you submit your tax return, you will again have to wait for the tax credit to arrive as part of your refund. In case the IRS uses your stimulus credit to reduce your outstanding tax bill, then you may end up getting nothing or a smaller stimulus payment.
