The Internal Revenue Service is bringing in 3,500 telephone operators to deal with the flood of calls about economic impact payments from taxpayers waiting for their money from the IRS.
The $2 trillion CARES Act that Congress passed in March included provisions to give individual taxpayers $1,200 each, $2,400 for couples, plus an extra $500 for each of their dependent children to help them get through the economic fallout from the novel coronavirus pandemic. While 140 million of the 150 million payments have been sent oiut, according to figures from the IRS on Monday, numerous problems quickly emerged.
Larry Nisenson is the Chief Growth Officer for Assured Allies, leading the new business initiatives for the company. Assured Allies features solutions including NeverStop, an innovative Wellness Rewards Program that's built right into your insurance policy.
For more than 25 years he has held leadership roles in the insurance and financial services industry, including Chief Commercial Officer for Genworth's U.S. Life Insurance business, covering long term care, life and annuity products. The role also included oversight for CareScout's Caregiver Support Services' commercial offerings. Prior to that role, Larry held senior leadership roles Plymouth Rock Assurance Company, AXA Equitable, American General Life Companies and Allstate. Larry started his career in financial services in 1995 as a financial advisor in New York City.
Larry received his BA from Rutgers University and attended the Global Executive Leadership Program at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth from 2018-2019. He also serves on the Board of Directors for the Rutgers School of Design Thinking as well as the Alumni Board for Sigma Phi Epsilon and is a public advocate and speaker on the caregiving dilemma that impacts millions of people.
Derek Miser is chief managing member at Miser Wealth Partners.
He is a licensed national Social Security advisor and a life and health insurance advisor. He is well-known in the financial services industry and has been featured in several publications, including Time, Forbes and USA Today.
Michelle Drolet is CEO of Towerwall, a pure-play cybersecurity consulting firm offering security and compliance services with clients such as Foundation Medicine, Boston College, and UMass Medical Center. Founded in 1999 in Framingham, Mass., Towerwall focuses exclusively on providing organizations with customized cybersecurity programs.
Contact her at michelled@towerwall.com or through LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelle-drolet.
The IRS relied on direct deposit information from taxpayers’ 2018 and 2019 tax returns, when it was available. But many bank accounts were temporary ones set up by tax prep chains for doing refund transfers, and there was no record of the taxpayer’s own bank account. Taxpayers were asked to enter their own direct deposit information online in such cases, and many are still awaiting their checks. The paper checks only recently started being sent out, and in some cases the IRS didn’t have the most up-to-date addresses for taxpayers. In some cases, payments were mistakenly sent to deceased taxpayers and people living abroad.
Much of the IRS workforce has been working remotely as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, although some have been called back to work to deal with the voluminous unopened paper correspondence that has piled up in trailers outside the IRS offices. Now it is starting to bring back employees to answer the phones and answer questions from anxious taxpayers about the status of their payments, although presumably these employees could work remotely.
The IRS warned Monday that telephone assistance and other services will nevertheless remain limited. The agency expects to bring back additional telephone helpers as state and local advisories allow.
In any case, answers for most of the common questions related to the economic impact payments can be found online on IRS.gov. The IRS regularly posts new and updated responses to the most frequently asked questions about economic impact payments here and in the FAQ page for its Get My Payment tool. Taxpayers who want to know about the status of their economic impact payment can check the Get My Payment page regularly. The information is updated as the IRS continues to process the rest of the payments for delivery.
Answers for most questions about the stimulus payments are also available on the automated message for people who call the phone number provided in the letter they receive about their economic impact payments, known as Notice 1444, a letter signed by President Trump informing them their payment has arrived (whether it has or not). Those who need more assistance at the end of the message will have the option of talking to a live representative.
