Tax Experts please answer: Does your 2019 Tax Return/Refund have to be approved before you receive the stimulus check?

[8RichardL9]

I filed my taxes on Apr 4th through the TurboTax free Stimulus Registration for non-tax filers. When I go to the IRS website to check the status of my 2019 Tax Return/ Refund it said "Return Received", but haven't been approved it yet. I think they are still processing it. To get the stimulus check does the IRS have to approve your 2019 Tax Return/Refund first and if they do have to approve it how long will it take? TurboTax said both my State and Federal Tax Return were accepted by the State and Federal government   on Apr 4 because TurboTax e-filed them when I filled out the "free Stimulus Registration for non-tax filers." When I try to check my payment status through the IRS tool that launched it said "Payment Status Not Available." I'm wondering if the reason I'm getting that message and the reason that I haven't gotten my stimulus check yet is because my 20-19 Tax Return/Refund hasn't been approved.

[SusanY1]

If the IRS has a completed tax return for 2018 on file for you, they will use that information.  Otherwise, they may be waiting for the processing of your information to be complete.  However, the IRS has released no information regarding how issues like this are being handled.

The "Where's my Payment" tool has only been live a few hours and many taxpayers have reported that data is not there yet.  I am sure data is still being uploaded into the tool.

Most IRS systems are updated during overnight hours, and I would check again tomorrow or in a few days to see if the status has changed. 

[8RichardL9]

Thank you for replying. I didn't file a 2018 Tax Return because I didn't qualify to do it because I have little to know income. I didn't even have to file this year either but I need the Stimulus Check to pay for certain utilities. Do you know if at this time the IRS is still processing Tax Return even in time of crisis? My concern is that all of their offices are closed so no one at the IRS is working to process Tax Returns which means the 2019 Tax Return that I e-filed through Turbo Tax is just sitting there and if they don't have it on hand how will they have my information to send me my stimulus check. I tried to do Enter my Info through the Non Filer option on the IRS site, but it already said a Tax Return has been submitted with the info I entered so I couldn't enter it in.