Direct deposit numbers on stimulus checks CANNOT be changed per the IRS. If the stimulus is sent to an invalid account, it will be returned to the IRS who will then issue a paper check. For further details, see "Bank Account Information" at https://www.irs.gov/coronavirus/get-my-payment-frequently-asked-questions .
According to the IRS, the bank account used for your stimulus check came from one of the following:
- Your 2020 tax return
- Your 2019 tax return if your 2020 return was not processed when the IRS started issuing payments
- Information you entered on your non-filer registration in 2020
- Information you entered on Get My Payment in 2020
- A federal agency that provides you benefits: This may include the Social Security Administration, Veteran Affairs, or the Railroad Retirement Board.
If it's a number you don't recognize, it's likely that one or more of the following has happened and the number shown by the IRS is NOT fraudulent:
- Perhaps it's an old account you forgot about (closed or not). If it's closed, the payment will be returned to the IRS and reissued as a paper check. If it's not, contact the bank or other issuer of that account.
- You had TurboTax deduct its fees out of your 2019 or 2020 refund OR you took out a Refund Advance for 2019 or 2020. To do this, TurboTax directs the IRS to send your refund thru a one-time account maintained by a partner, usually Santa Barbara Tax Products Group (SBTPG), who then deducts the fees or advance (plus its own fee) and then forwards the balance to your own account (or for Refund Advance to a Turbo Card, see below).
- According to official Intuit announcements (and implied by SBTPG's announcement), the IRS was provided with the correct bank account information for all TurboTax customers who used this option before the third stimulus was issued. (For Refund Advance & other Turbo Card users this would be your Turbo Card; see below first.) However, according to media reports some stimulus checks may still have been misrouted to these one-time accounts; neither Intuit nor SBTPG has provided any new guidance on how these will be handled.
- For now, if this is the case I assume (speaking only for myself; I am *not* an Intuit employee, and Intuit and/or SBTPG may provide other guidance) that payments nonetheless sent to one-time accounts will be returned to the IRS & reissued as paper checks.
- If the last four the IRS gave you are same as your SSN, or the last three of your SSN plus another digit, this is the most likely reason; SBTPG and other "refund transfer" providers have commonly used SSNs in their one-time account numbers.
- You had your 2019 or 2020 refund sent to a Turbo Visa Debit Card (including Refund Advance recipients & others whose refunds were sent thru SBTPG or a similar provider first, THEN the remaining balance was sent to your Turbo Card), or if you used now Intuit-owned Credit Karma, a Credit Karma Money Spend or Save account. In either of these cases, the account number the IRS has is associated with that card or account, and your stimulus check went there. See the official Intuit FAQs at https://turbotax.intuit.com/stimulus-check/ (look for "What if I received my stimulus payment..." for your Turbo Card or Credit Karma account) for more instructions.
- If you used both SBTPG or a similar provider and Turbo Card or Credit Karma (including all Refund Advance customers), check your Turbo Card or Credit Karma account first.
- If you used another tax provider for 2019 or 2020 with its own products similar to Intuit products listed above (i.e., "pay with refund", Refund Advance, Turbo Card, Credit Karma), your stimulus money likely went to an account number associated with that product; you will need to contact that tax provider and/or the issuer of that product for assistance. (This specifically includes H&R Block's Emerald Card; media reports have confirmed some stimulus payments were sent to Emerald Cards.) If you used both a "pay with refund" or Refund Advance-like product and a card or account like Turbo Card, Credit Karma or Emerald Card, check the card or account first.
- If you did NOT file taxes for 2019 or 2020 and receive Social Security (including Social Security disability), Supplemental Security Income, railroad retirement or VA benefits on a Direct Express card, the account number the IRS has is a special number at Comerica Bank (who issues the Direct Express card under contract with Treasury) used only by Treasury (including now the IRS) and your benefits agency (SSA, RRB or VA) to deposit money to your Direct Express card; your stimulus check will go there in the next few weeks. See Comerica Bank's FAQs on stimulus payments going to Direct Express cards at https://www.usdirectexpress.com/downloads/FAQs-EIP.pdf .
One place the money definitely did NOT go is to debit cards issued for the first two stimulus checks; Congress ordered the IRS not to reuse those. If the IRS says you are getting your check "by mail", it may arrive EITHER as a Treasury check in the usual envelope for those, OR as a newly-issued debit card (similar to but different from the first two) in an envelope bearing the Treasury seal.
