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Level 1
January 5, 2021
Question

Are their delays in the second stimulus return?

  • January 5, 2021
  • 11 replies
  • 22 views
is their a delay in the second stimoulous return?

11 replies

Level 15
January 5, 2021

Here's the scoop:

 

If you used refund transfer to have your fees deducted from your refund, that means your refund was sent to Turbotax's banking partner SBTPG, to open a temporary account in your name, receive the refund, subtract the fees, forward the rest of the money to your regular account, and close the temporary account.

 

That means that the IRS never had your real banking info, just the temporary closed account.  The IRS had a web site open through October where you could have updated your banking information.

 

The IRS should not try to make deposits into these closed accounts, because they know which banks provide this service.  During round 1, when the IRS mistakenly sent stimulus payments to SBTPG, SPTBG tried to match them to their customers and forward the money.  However for round 2, SBTPG has decided to bounce all payments back to the IRS for security reasons.

 

So if you used refund transfer to pay your fees, and if you never updated the IRS with your banking information, the IRS should recognize this fact and mail you a check or debit card.  If the IRS makes a mistake and tries to do a direct deposit, it will bounce, and the IRS would normally mail a check or debit card later, but it takes longer.

 

The new law says the IRS can only make payments until January 15. After that, if you don't receive a deposit, check or debit card, you can claim the rebate as a credit on your tax return and it will be added to your refund. 

 

Turbotax has no idea if you are eligible, and no control over where the IRS sends the money.  If you did not use refund transfer, you should get the second stimulus payment in the same way as the first payment.

 

Refund transfer is a terrible product -- not only is it overpriced, but putting a bank you don't know in between you and the IRS is always a bad idea.  In 2020, it turns out to be a galactically bad idea. 

Level 2
January 6, 2021

Thank you. This was thorough. 

 

According to my receipts we used Refund Transfer last year, though I was certain we paid the fees out of our account (the invoice confirms this as well). I just want to know where the money is at and when and where it will arrive? Will the IRS post a new status to our "Get My Payment" and tell us or do we wait until we file our taxes? 

 

We are feeling pretty salty about this whole deal... as Sheldon said in "Big Bang Theory" there is little left to do but assign blame.  How do we find out what's next?

Level 15
January 6, 2021

@jwpearson2010 wrote:

Thank you. This was thorough. 

 

According to my receipts we used Refund Transfer last year, though I was certain we paid the fees out of our account (the invoice confirms this as well). I just want to know where the money is at and when and where it will arrive? Will the IRS post a new status to our "Get My Payment" and tell us or do we wait until we file our taxes? 

 

We are feeling pretty salty about this whole deal... as Sheldon said in "Big Bang Theory" there is little left to do but assign blame.  How do we find out what's next?



What does the IRS site tell you?

https://www.irs.gov/coronavirus/get-my-payment

 

The IRS is supposed to mail you a check or debit card if your only bank information on file with them is from refund transfer.  Those checks and debit cards have to be mailed by the January 15 deadline imposed by the new law.  If not mailed by then, you have to request the rebate on your tax return.

 

If the IRS site says the payment was deposited to an account you don't recognize, then the IRS would also automatically mail a replacement check or debit card once the bounced deposit is caught and corrected.  But, because of the January 15 deadline, it probably won't be mailed on time and you will claim the rebate on your tax return. 

 

If anything else could be done, it would have to happen at a very high level between the IRS and the banks, and I have no info on any of that.