ATLANTA — The frustration continues for many out there who report that they have filed their taxes but keep seeing the "Payment Status Not Available" message on the IRS stimulus payment status tracker site.
We've been reaching out on Twitter and fielding messages from dozens of people and there are some common threads that are becoming clear, including one very oddly specific situation that seems to be the most common.
We've reached out the Treasury Department multiple times to see if they can explain any of these scenarios, and will continue to do so - in the meantime, here are some of the dots we're connecting:
- 2019 filers who have received their refund: This is understandably perplexing - the IRS says if your 2019 return hasn't fully processed, that would be why you're seeing the message. But if you've already gotten your refund, wouldn't that mean it's been processed? You'd think so, but these systems are incredibly large and complex, and it's possible there's some kind of lag in it becoming fully processed. You can attempt to see if your return was processed in a couple of ways outlined here.
- People who filed for 2018, have not filed yet for 2019, and who owed money on their 2018 return: This might seem bizarrely specific, but we're seeing it reported over and over and over again on social media. Again, we've reached out to see if there's any way to explain this particular convergence of circumstances resulting in so many seeing the error message. We'll update if we hear back. In the meantime, if you're in the same boat, please send a message to jraymond@11alive.com
- UPDATE 4/18: The reaction to this was overwhelming - we received thousands of emails from people in this exact situation - we're sorry we couldn't respond to them all. There is one new development that indicates the IRS may have recognized an issue - its "Get My Payment" FAQ site now says this, reflecting an update from Friday - "The application doesn't yet have your data; we’re working on adding more data to allow more people to use it."
It's possible this may also only apply to people in that situation who used a certain tax service. The Treasury Department confirmed a Washington Post report yesterday that there were certain issues with people who filed with H&R Block, TurboTax and others and how payments were sent out.
In this instance, we've seen a few people who owed in 2018 and haven't filed in 2019 reporting they filed with TurboTax.
NBC News spoke to a California man who said the IRS didn't have his direct deposit information "because the TurboTax system doesn’t include that option when a person isn’t getting a refund."
There are some other common threads that appear to be popping up, in particular a number of people reporting issues are those who file their taxes with the 1099 form that freelancers and independent contractors typically need or those who live abroad and file with the 2555 form for foreign earned income.
If you're experiencing anything outlined in the IRS guidance below, please reach out and let us know some details!
In certain cases, the Get My Payment app will be unable to tell you the status of your payment. You may receive this message for one of the following reasons:
- If you are not eligible for a payment (see IRS.gov on who is eligible and who is not eligible)
- If you are required to file a tax return and have not filed in tax year 2018 or 2019.
- If you recently filed your return or provided information through Non-Filers: Enter Your Payment Info on IRS.gov. Your payment status will be updated when processing is completed.
- If you are a SSA or RRB Form 1099 recipient, SSI or VA benefit recipient – the IRS is working with your agency to issue your payment; your information is not available in this app yet.
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