IRS Admits Millions of Americans Will Have To File Taxes to Get Stimulus Payment

It's not been a smooth ride for the second stimulus check. From going to wrong bank accounts to not getting it at all, it's been a frustrating past week for American taxpayers.

While millions of Americans have received their second stimulus payment, there are still millions who have not gotten a second stimulus payment as of Thursday and likely will not receive one until they get their tax return later this year.

According to the Washington Post, the IRS admitted this week that anyone who gets a "Payment #2 Status -- Not Available" message, will not receive a stimulus payment before January 15th. Instead, they have to file taxes and claim the Recovery Rebate Credit on their tax return to get their stimulus payment. They have until April 15th to file taxes, which means many will have to wait months before getting their second stimulus check.

The former IRS commissioner said the IRS had to delay some of the checks because of timing.

“The problem is this bill was passed right at the start of the 2020 tax season,” said John Koskinen, the IRS commissioner under President Barack Obama. “This has all hit when critical testing of the operations of the tax filing system are going on, and without delaying some checks, they can’t get it all done. But it’s not helpful to people waiting for money.”

Then there's the question of why some had their money go to accounts they've never heard of before.

The IRS said if a payment went out in error to the wrong account, the bank was required to send it back and then they would mail out a physical check or debit card. That's what happened for the first stimulus check. That's not the case this time around, unfortunately.

Apparently, that 'glitch' took roughly eight weeks to fix, which the IRS didn't have the time for here because the stimulus package was passed just as the 2020 tax season started. Those using H&R Block, Jackson Hewitt or TurboTax were among those impacted.

The NCLC blamed the IRS for not being ready.

“It is disappointing that the IRS did not fix this problem, which it has known about for months, in light of the likelihood of a new round of stimulus payments," NCLC associate director Lauren Saunders said in a statement. "People who need money now may have to wait months until they can file a tax return and get their refund unless the tax prep companies are able to forward the funds.”

Read the full story here.