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When is TT going to start disbursing the second stimulus checks? Or is that money just borked?

We are a couple making less than 45k. Received first stimulus check direct deposit, no problems. Account is the same; nothing has changed that would affect eligibility. January 5 now, and IRS has no info. News stories point to H&R and TT withholding funds. What gives?
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When is TT going to start disbursing the second stimulus checks? Or is that money just borked?

Turbotax NEVER receives a stimulus payment.  The bank that Turbotax and most other tax preparers use might have received your deposit if the IRS screwed up. 

 

If you used refund transfer to have your fees deducted from your refund, that means your refund was sent to Turbotax's bank 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 have tried 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, according to their web site. 

 

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. 

 

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 galactically bad. 

When is TT going to start disbursing the second stimulus checks? Or is that money just borked?

Thanks! That was a succinct answer and clarified the situation well. News outlets should be so straightforward with their reporting.

When is TT going to start disbursing the second stimulus checks? Or is that money just borked?


@cassingham wrote:

Thanks! That was a succinct answer and clarified the situation well. News outlets should be so straightforward with their reporting.


This is way off topic, of course, but I have noticed that whenever the news reports on something within my areas of expertise, they almost always get something wrong.  Lots of people I talk to have the same experience about their areas of expertise.  So why does anyone assume that the news is correct about everything they tell us that is not in our area of expertise?

 

When is TT going to start disbursing the second stimulus checks? Or is that money just borked?

What a way to cover for Turbotax that long and idiotic posting.... for months now, Turbotax and other tax preparation companies have been blogging and telling people "if you received your first stimulus there is no need to change any information you will receive the second stimulus the same way as the first" now you are posting people should have changed their banking information?? 

 

Turbotax needs to come clean and just release a statement and say they messed up and knew there was a problem, I am pretty sure Santa Barbara Bank notified Intuit when the problem occurred, yet unlike H&R Block who is trying to "Make it Right", Turbotax just ignored the problem and now blames the IRS. Either way, your idiotic posting did little to none to calm my anger and it just makes me more angry that Turbotax isn't taking blame for any part of the mistake.

When is TT going to start disbursing the second stimulus checks? Or is that money just borked?

Even more curious is why did Turbotax telling people "no need to make any changes for the second stimulus" even though you and Turbotax are the so called "experts"?????

When is TT going to start disbursing the second stimulus checks? Or is that money just borked?


@Jkang770 wrote:

Even more curious is why did Turbotax telling people "no need to make any changes for the second stimulus" even though you and Turbotax are the so called "experts"?????


I don't know who said what or why.  They say hindsight is 20/20, and looking back, it is easy to see that Turbotax could have mitigated the problem by sending messages to refund transfer customers telling them "even if you received stimulus 1, go the the IRS web site and update your banking info".  But no one knew for sure there would even be a stimulus 2.  Even then, a lot of customers might not have done it.  

 

 

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