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A Springfield woman named Millina Fischer called this newspaper to report receiving not one but two payments via direct deposit.
The problem with that was the second one seemed to be intended for her late husband, Robert Houston, who passed away in 2018.
Fischer, who has since remarried, said she notified the IRS of Houston’s passing when she filed their 2018 taxes last year, but that seemed to have eluded the notice of the program handling the Economic Impact Payments.
“Of course you know it’s impossible to contact anybody at the IRS, and I just felt that if they’re issuing a check to a deceased person, they’re issuing a lot of them,” she said. “And I thought perhaps if this is brought to their attention, they can stop it before it keeps continuing.”
She also expressed concern about having to return the money or report it as income when she files her 2020 tax return next year.
Reports from around the country in the past few days confirmed Fischer is correct about payments going to multiple people who have died, but Springfield accountant Joe Collinsworth said he does not believe that money will have to be repaid.
“The IRS’s No. 1 goal was to get money in individuals’ and business’ bank accounts as soon as possible,” he said. “We’re not sure why some are slipping through the cracks like that. It could just be the database not being updated accordingly, or there could be a number of other reasons as well. Everything I understand is that the IRS will not request that money back, so they can utilize it. Everything I have read indicates as such.”
After Fischer shared her story, the News-Sun posted a form online for readers to submit their own stories.
More than a dozen responded, including multiple people who said they received their payments without a problem.
CLICK HERE to access the form and send feedback
“It came as expected thanks to our President Donald Trump,” wrote Frank Bouska. “People need to understand there are 328.2 million people in the USA and when they don’t input correct information there will be a delay.”
Others reported problems similar to Keith Neale.
“I checked the ‘Get Payment’ portal yesterday and kept getting the same ‘Status Not Available’ (message),” Neale wrote. “Then this morning I tried again and got a ‘You have exceeded the number of entries for today.’ That was on the first attempt. I would say the system is broken.”
Similarly, Cassandra Speakman reported getting a message that no information was available after she entered her banking information.
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Collinsworth, a CPA for Bennett, Groeber, Mullen and Feltner in Springfield, advised patience for people facing that situation.
“From what I understand, obviously there’s millions of people going on that website at a time,” he said. “Chances are that if they get one of those messages it’s maybe because they haven’t filed 2018 or ‘19 yet, or they weren’t required to file 2018 so the IRS may not have that information in the database just yet. It could be that they didn’t have the direct deposit information on hand so they’ll be getting a check at some point. It could be that they just recently filed 2019 so it’s not quite in the system yet.
Another respondent, Jeremiah Coley, reported not getting the correct amount of money he believed he was owed based on having two dependents.
“It’s based on your income, and then the kids have to be under 17 as of your last filing,” Collinsworth said.
Another person who did not give their full name reported their payment going to their tax preparer while two others who used large national preparers had their payments tied up through them.
“I could see that potentially being an issue,” Collinsworth said. “If that is the case – and I have not heard this – but then my recommendation would be to contact (the preparer), No. 1, and No. 2 to go on to the portal and try to update your bank account information.”
In all cases, Collinsworth advised anyone who has a problem to speak to a professional.
He also warned everyone should be aware of the potential for scams.
“One that I’m seeing or have heard of is that when people like (Mrs. Fischer) get his extra money they may get some sort of letter, call or email requesting the money back indicating it’s the IRS but it’s not,” he said.
“First of all, the IRS will never call or email or text you. That’s No. 1, and No. 2 is when people do get a letter, do not panic. And then whether it’s a client of ours are not, contact your tax preparer or a CPA and find out what to do next.”
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