Dear Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin,
We write seeking information about issues that may be causing stimulus payments authorized under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act to be returned to the Department of the Treasury (Treasury). Given the ongoing economic and health crisis, it is imperative that Americans eligible to receive stimulus payments are provided such funds as swiftly as possible.
Last week, we understand that Treasury attempted to pay $150 billion in stimulus payments by direct deposit to “80 million Americans.” These payments were made using direct deposit information included on 2018 or 2019 tax returns. Based on press reports and constituent inquiries, however, it appears that many Americans did not receive scheduled stimulus payments as a result of incorrect banking information.
There seems to be a variety of reasons for the direct deposit issues. It has been reported that there may be tens of millions of taxpayers who relied on commercial tax preparation software or services for whom Treasury cannot deposit the stimulus payment into their bank accounts.
Other taxpayers may have received advances on their federal tax refunds through refund anticipation products, and their stimulus payments incorrectly went to third-party banks that provided the money for the advance to the preparers. While it is unclear why these payments were sent to accounts that should have been designated as temporary, we understand these stimulus payments should be returned to Treasury.
Furthermore, we heard that Treasury has incorrect, or closed, bank account information on file for some taxpayers. We also understand that these stimulus payments should be returned to Treasury.
On April 16, 2020, Treasury reported that nearly one billion dollars of federal tax refunds were returned by financial institutions to Treasury. There are many questions regarding this amount, including the number of payments returned, the reasons the payments were returned, and how many payments Treasury estimates will be returned. For Americans whose stimulus payments were returned to Treasury, it is important to communicate this information to them.
Therefore, given the information above, please provide answers to the following questions:
What is the total number and dollar amount of stimulus payments that have been returned to Treasury to date?
What are the leading factors causing stimulus payments to be returned to Treasury?
When stimulus payments are returned to Treasury, what actions are taken to ensure such funds are promptly delivered to the intended recipients and update any error related to their account information?
Thank you, in advance, for your attention to this urgent matter.
— Congressman Mike Thompson (CA-5), Ways and Means Select Revenue Measures Subcommittee Chairman, co-signee
Dear Chairman Thompson,
There is another issue effecting a very large number of people that has not been reported by any media outlet and I ask that you please look into it.
The issue is there are many thousands, perhaps millions of individuals who added their direct deposit information successfully last Wednesday morning 4/15. Not only have these individuals not received payment yet, they are not even given a date for deposit when they check their status on the “get my payment” portal.
The treasury secretary stated these people would have their money in “several days” when the tool launched. Please look into why it’s been over a week and these people are left in the dark
I’m a single parent who has been furloughed and I have filed taxes with a dependent. I was under the impression that we would receive an additional $500 per dependent. I have only received the $1200 payment per individual. Is there going to be separate payments issued?
Thank you,
The Schwinn guy.