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.
Dr. Simi George is the Chief Data Scientist and Product Officer at NeuralMetrics, which enables actionable and transparent risk-assessment intelligence for P&C carriers, brokers, and agents. She has more than 20 years of experience in data science and descriptive statistics, for delivering global impact via cutting-edge products and data-driven management. Previously, she headed the Data Science and Applied AI organization at AXA XL.
Steven Kelly is the associate director of research at the Yale Program on Financial Stability.
Noah Lang is a champion of health care access & coverage for underserved, low-income Americans who are often left out of the traditional employer benefits safety net. He is the co-founder and CEO of Stride Health, which has helped over 3 million gig workers and self-employed Americans access coverage. Stride is building an individualized portable benefits system in concert with brands including Amazon, Uber, DoorDash, Mastercard, Allstate, Oscar and Intuit. Noah collaborated with the US Department of Health & Human Services to help establish a unique public-private sector partnership to expand access to Affordable Care Act health coverage and premium tax credits called "Enhanced Direct Enrollment," which is now used by millions of ACA enrollees. Noah was a President's Scholar at Stanford University where he graduated with a degree in Product Design and was captain of the Stanford Triathlon Team. Noah is a proud father of 2 girls, an avid runner and endurance sports junkie.
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.
