topic Is it true Turbo tax is recieveing and distributing people’s stimulus checks? in Other financial discussions

Is it true Turbo tax is recieveing and distributing people’s stimulus checks?

4haleystud — Tue, 05 Jan 2021 17:24:53 GMT

Re: Is it true Turbo tax is recieveing and distributing people’s stimulus checks?

DoninGA — Tue, 05 Jan 2021 17:26:30 GMT

TurboTax does not receive any type of tax refund, federal or state. TurboTax does not receive any type of Economic Impact Payment.

TurboTax is a software company. TurboTax is not a financial institution, like a bank, that can receive and distribute payments.

The stimulus payment will go to the account you entered for direct deposit on the 2019 tax return. The direct deposit information cannot be changed. If the account is closed the IRS will send the payment by mail or on a debit card.

Go to this IRS website for stimulus information - https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/treasury-and-irs-begin-delivering-second-round-of-economic-impact-payme...

Go to this IRS website to check the status of your payment - https://www.irs.gov/coronavirus/get-my-payment

If you do not receive the second stimulus payment on or before January 15, 2021 and/or you did not receive the first stimulus payment in 2020 and you are eligible it will be entered on your federal tax return, Form 1040 on Line 30.

The Form 1040 has not been finalized and needs to updated to include the 2nd Economic Impact Payment.

Re: Is it true Turbo tax is recieveing and distributing people’s stimulus checks?

Opus 17 — Tue, 05 Jan 2021 19:50:50 GMT

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 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.

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.