Skip to content

CARES Act Stimulus Checks Update: April 14, 2020

CARES Act Stimulus Checks Update: April 14, 2020

Timing of Stimulus Checks

The IRS has just announced that a significant disbursement of CARES Act stimulus checks will be paid starting the week of April 12, 2020. This round of payments will include over 80 million Americans, including nearly all 2018 and 2019 tax filers who utilized direct deposit for refunds from the IRS. The online banking software for many financial institutions will reflect pending deposits for these stimulus checks starting a few days before they are deposited. Other individuals entitled to stimulus payments should receive physical checks within the next six to eight weeks.

IRS Portal Update

The IRS had originally announced plans for an online portal to allow tax filers to update and change their direct deposit information before their receipt of stimulus payments. This tool may have proved to be especially important between high conflict divorcing spouses or coparents. However, as of today (April 14, 2020), the IRS has updated its intentions surrounding the online portal to effectively prevent direct deposit changes for millions of Americans.

Currently, the ability to update direct deposit information is limited to only persons who did not file tax returns in both 2018 and 2019 and who do not receive Social Security benefits or Railroad Retirement benefits.

While the IRS has promised a “Get My Payment” tool for filers that will launch sometime over the coming weeks to allow stimulus recipients to track their stimulus payments and to update their direct deposit information, it is unclear whether this tool will be available before stimulus payments are paid. For more information, please visit: https://www.irs.gov/coronavirus/economic-impact-payments

David Pontier

Archives