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.
Brij Sharma is the Co-founder and a Managing Partner at NTV. Brij has more than 25 years of experience as a successful entrepreneur and investor in the U.S., India, and GCC Region.
Brij founded Tela Sourcing, Inc., an outsourcing company focused on servicing the U.S. healthcare insurance market. Tela served more than 50 health insurance clients and was recognized by Gartner as one of the leading specialized company in healthcare services. Brij successfully sold Tela to TriZetto, Inc., a healthcare technology and solution company controlled by Apax Private Equity.
Most recently, through a joint venture with Davita Inc., Brij founded Express Clinics, a network of owned primary care and population health management centers in India. Davita is a Fortune 500 U.S.-based healthcare company. Ultimately, Brij provided a successful exit to Davita by purchasing their shareholding.
Brij is also the Founder of MDIndia, one of the largest third-party administrators of health insurance services in India. MDIndia manages more than 40 million lives, processes over $1 billion in premiums and provides healthcare access through a contracted national network of more than 4,500 hospitals and healthcare centers.
Brij has an MBA from Yale University and is an engineering graduate of the College of Engineering, Pune, India. Brij is an active investor and has ongoing involvement with ventures in the healthcare technology, outsourcing, and mobile commerce space. Brij has also been an advisor since 2010 to the $50 million Somerset Private Equity Fund, which is focused on healthcare investments in India.
Managing cash flow has become the top priority for financial professionals as their businesses have seen significant drops in cash flow, revenue and profits amid the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new survey.
Account Executive
Qualia
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.
