Taxes and Stimulus
My wife and I filed our federal return electronically thru our financial planner back on April 4, 2020. We are owed a refund but we never got anything. We checked the irs.gov website regularly for status of our refund or the stimulus payment but just kept getting the same “still in process” message. I tried to file an online tracking form that can be used for refunds and stimulus and found out that what was holding up our return was that they could not verify our identity. We got no such notice in the mail or email ever. I could not verify online so I had to send the form in the mail. I got back a letter about 10 days later with an activation code that I used to login and verify my/our identity. It says that our return will be processed in NINE WEEKS! I’ve been out-of-work since end of February and we were counting on this refund PLUS our stimulus payment to meet expenses. Any chance we’ll get a first-round stimulus check? Can we get interest on our refund since the IRS delayed it over almost 6 months?
Terry Says
The refund and the stimulus are two separate issues.
The delay in the tax refund is happening to a lot of people. They are catching up now. And yes, you will receive interest dating back to April 15th. It will come separately from your tax refund.
Now, here’s how to deal with the stimulus. FIRST< did you qualify based on your 2018 return income (under $150,000) if filing jointly. If you DID qualify based on 2018 (not 2019) then click here for instructions. You’ll want to put a trace on the check, using this form.
BUT if you didn’t qualify in 2018, but DID qualify based on 2019, and you havent yet rece3ived your check, you will have to declare it as a credit on your 2020 return when you file next April! I realize that doesn’t help you now. But they first reviewed 2018 returns at the start, and if you weren’t eligible on that basis, you have to wait until next year to claim your $2400 credit (stimulus for each of you).
Hang in there!
