PORTLAND, Maine — If you're a customer with H&R Block or TurboTax, you may experience a delay in receiving your second stimulus check.
While the IRS and the U.S. Treasury Department began issuing the second round of stimulus checks last week, customers of both companies are taking to the internet to air out their frustration about their payments not ending up in their bank accounts.
According to H&R Block, customers who have used the IRS Get My Payment tracking tool may see an account number their payment was issued to that is not theirs.
People that have their tax refund checks sent directly to their bank account automatically get their stimulus check from the government to that account number. However, H&R Block customers that used the Refund Transfer option in 2019 may have had their stimulus sent to that temporary account.
H&R Block posted online saying in part, "If you took a Refund Transfer, it may be reflecting that account number. Check your 2019 return to confirm. But don’t worry – we have sent these payments on to the method you chose for Refund Transfer: direct deposit, check, or Emerald Card. The money should be there by the end of the day."
However, many are saying they still didn't receive their payment at the end of the day when this started on Monday, or they only received a part of their payment.
Following H&R Block's announcement of the issue Tuesday, TurboTax announced the same issue later in the day.
TurboTax tweeted out a thread explaining the problem from their end. They said this mixup is not the fault of the company, but of the IRS. They said they provide the IRS with the appropriate banking information, but due to the speed at which they issued the second payment, the money may have been sent to an account associated with customers' 2019 filings that is no longer active. In this case, the money is sent back to the IRS, by law. They expect this will delay most peoples' payments.
If you don’t receive your stimulus money, you’ll be eligible to get that money on your tax return.
H&R Block said Tuesday, "If the IRS Get My Payment website displays an account number a customer doesn’t recognize, H&R Block is ready to help with additional information at 800-HRBLOCK and 1-866-353-1266 for Emerald Card."
Greg Johnson, the Executive Vice President and General Manager of Turbo Tax says they are working with the IRS and anticipate having the issue resolved "within days."
Turbo Tax sent out an email Friday morning letting customers know that their payments would begin to be deposited starting Jan. 8.