So, the IRS has made some progress. Their site still says “Don’t call” (apparently they didn’t get phone trees hooked up to the work-at-home folks).
Today’s status:
Monies to be sent out in April.
Filed a return in 2018 or 2019? You’re set.
Receive Social Security, Railroad Retirement, or Veteran’s Disability? You’re set.
Well, assuming that you individually didn’t make more than $99,000. Those folks were deemed not to need assistance.
They will be mailing a letter to all recipients 2 weeks after they send the money. That will be sent to your last address of record (on last return you filed, or change of address you sent).
The portal where you can enter your banking information isn’t up yet (assuming that you haven’t received a refund in the last 2 years or need to change your account number).
The IRS will not call you and ask for your banking information
The IRS will not send you a random check for more than the money you are to receive.
IF you get a check it will prominently state it’s from the Treasury and be very official looking, not some rando’s check off some odd bank.
The IRS will not call and threaten to arrest you
The IRS will not call and say you owe them money
There are too many scammers out there and while Ma Bell has fixed SS7 signalling on PRI lines for spoofing, VoIP is wide open - they can make the Caller ID say whatever they want. Call out the scammers for what they are. Screw with them if you want, I’ve done that with Microsoft Tech Support calls and with Car Warranty callers.
Oh, and that portal for putting in your banking info? I am 99% sure that it’s going to be on irs.gov. And, they won’t be emailing anybody about it, either.
We were speculating the other day, and I’m not sure how good it’s going to be for the folks with no income. I had to go in person to file for Social Security, because I’m not “on the grid”. I have no credit cards, and I don’t pay utilities. Nothing that gives me any current credit information. For a person with no income, they also are not likely to be “on the grid”.
“They” are supposed to be working on a simple form to be filed out. Again, it’ll probably have to be mailed, otherwise every scammer and hacker from here to Timbuktu will be trying to get money.
Come to think of it, I was trying to help a guy do the Change of Address form online (at irs.gov) last year. We had to mail the form, because he didn’t have a credit card, and thus no way for them to verify him. I guess debit cards are too easily acquired??
Maybe not in regard to stimulus checks, but if you owe back taxes the IRS will call you if you disregard their letters and certified letters. They’ll come out to your house and any other property you own, too, to chat.
I never worked with anybody that far down the “pay us” chain, but chances are good that they’ll freeze your bank accounts before they come looking for you. I worked for a company that had some old debt to the IRS, and they handed me the paperwork and sent me down to the IRS to see what was going on. They thought that they’d addressed the debt by doing a carryback of losses, but they hadn’t paid originally, so all the interest was due. And, the bank accounts were frozen.
Well, I haven’t checked today, but it only said “April” on irs.gov yesterday. Pundits and government alleged officials can say whatever they want, but it sounds like the IRS is hedging their bets.
“Several million people who filed their taxes via H&R Block, TurboTax and other popular services were unable to get their payments because the IRS did not have their direct deposit information on file, according to the Treasury, companies and experts.”
