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$1.4 Billion in Stimulus Funds Sent to the Dead

Comments

  • @davidrmoran, I’d agree with you / your post - provided we don’t learn next that the dead people actually signed and cashed those checks.:)
  • This is a common occurrence under every administration for decades. SS and other federal assistance programs pay deceased persons routinely. Nothing new here, including fraud. Of course, it should be cleaned up but don't hold your breath.
  • Nothing new here
    the I.R.S. had put in place a system in 2013 to update tax accounts with death records to address concerns that tax refunds were improperly going to the dead. ... [T]his control was bypassed
    The availability of data to prevent this was new. The decision to ignore this data was new.
  • beebee
    edited June 2020
    Not sure of the newness of this news, but:
    The IRS was busy yesterday updating its economic impact payment information center with new answers to frequently asked questions. The new guidance clarified that incarcerated individuals do not qualify for a stimulus check. Specifically, the instructions state that, “payment made to someone who is incarcerated should be returned to the IRS.”
    What are you gonna do? Put me in...Jail?

    do-people-in-prison-qualify-for-stimulus-check-payments

    Also, if you haven't received your stimulus check, you may have been incorrectly identified by Turbo Tax or H&R Block as someone's dependent even though you were not . This fact was personally verified yesterday by an IRS specialist.
  • I wonder if they all got the follow up letter signed by 45 saying it was all his doing.
  • bee said:

    The new guidance clarified that incarcerated individuals do not qualify for a stimulus check. Specifically, the instructions state that, “payment made to someone who is incarcerated should be returned to the IRS.”

    I missed that when it originally came out. Nice find.
    https://www.irs.gov/coronavirus/economic-impact-payment-information-center

    Trying to understand this disqualification leads us to a familiar observation: it depends on what the meaning of the word "is" is.

    The section of the US Code that the IRS cited in FAQ #15 for the definition of incarcerated pertains to monthly checks. You don't get a monthly check if you were incarcerated some time during the month for which the benefits accrue.

    Here, we're talking about a one time check. Does "is incarcerated" mean on the one day that the check is cut, or the one day that one receives the check, or the one day on which it is cashed? Does it mean anytime from the day the CARES Act was signed into law until the end of 2020? Does it mean anytime in tax year 2020, since this is just an advance on a 2020 tax credit?

    The bigger question, though, is by what authority is the IRS declaring these individuals ineligible (whoever they "is")?

    AEI blog post, IRS has no authority to deny rebates to the incarcerated and the recently deceased
    https://www.aei.org/economics/irs-has-no-authority-to-deny-rebates-to-the-incarcerated-and-the-recently-deceased/

    Prison Policy Initiative: Since you asked: Should incarcerated people be receiving stimulus payments?
    https://www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2020/05/18/checks/
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