TURBOTAX and H&R Block customers are raging on social media after a glitch has seen their stimulus checks be sent to the wrong accounts. Dozens of people who filed tax returns through the two companies are struggling to receive their $1,400 coronavirus relief payments for the second time in three months. Several customers told CNBC […]
TURBOTAX and H&R Block customers are raging on social media after a glitch has seen their stimulus checks be sent to the wrong accounts.
Dozens of people who filed tax returns through the two companies are struggling to receive their $1,400 coronavirus relief payments for the second time in three months.
Several customers told CNBC their money was wrongly deposited in temporary pass through accounts the tax companies had set up for them in the past.
This is the exact same glitch that happened to more than 13 million taxpayers when the federal government issued $600 checks back in mid-January.
After that incident, both TurboTax and H&R Block sought to assure customers that they had worked with the IRS to fix the issue, and that their third stimulus checks would be directed in the correct place.
“We are working closely with the IRS, and we’ve confirmed that the IRS has accurate bank account information for all TurboTax customers,” TurboTax said last week as the IRS began rolling out payments.
The IRS set the official payment date as March 17, however by Thursday morning hundreds have complained on social media that they either still haven’t received the payment or cannot access the funds.
A large number of complaints on Twitter were caused by checks being directed to incorrect accounts once again – even though the affected customers had updated their banking information.
“So I had to use a portal to fix where my second stimulus check went because the account i used for tax’s last year closed,” user Krystyn Kehler wrote. “I was told because I used the portal I wouldn’t have any issues this stimulus check… but it was still sent to the wrong account.”
Similarly, a second user wrote: “Am I seriously about to get evicted because of the f***ing @turbotax error again?
“My bank account was always correct why the f**k is the IRS still sending my stimulus check to the wrong made up turbo tax account. I need that money so bad it’s not even funny.”
Some customers have complained that their checks have been sent to accounts they previously used but have since closed, and others wrote that their payments have been sent to account numbers they don’t even recognize.
“@TeamTuboTax who’s account is this? Because it’s not mine,” wrote Gemma Grace. “The past years I’ve used TurboTax, I just realized my bank account isn’t accurate but yet I’ve received my refunds and last two stimulus checks via Direct Deposit. I haven’t received this one. What’s going on?”
Much like the glitch during the last stimulus payment roll out, for some, it seems the IRS has directed the latest funds to temporary accounts that were set up to receive the customer’s tax refunds.
“I updated my bank info for the second check, as requested,” one angered TurboTax customer wrote. “You even sent me a nice little email telling me not to worry, you sent my updated bank info to the IRS for this 3rd one. This is the most toxic relationship I’ve had.”
A TurboTax spokesperson said the account issues is affecting a “small group” of customers who updated their banking information directly with the company during the second stimulus pay out.
“We’ve reached out directly to these customers with information about their stimulus payment,” the spokesperson told CNBC.
H&R Block users told the network their checks were incorrectly deposited onto Emerald Cards, prepaid debit cards that customers can use to receive their tax refunds.
H&R Block called the incidents ‘isolated’ and issued a press release on Tuesday saying that all stimulus payments to Emerald Cards had been processed.
The company added that it had worked closely with the IRS to ‘ensure a smother process for our clients’ in the wake of the January mix-up.
According to the IRS, the stimulus payments will be deposited into the bank account where a taxpayer’s last tax refund was deposited.
For those who have not yet filed for 2020, the money will be directed to the account the 2019 refund was sent to.
A spokesperson for the IRS said in a statement that the agency believes “the volume of payments going to closed accounts will be significantly less than any previous round of Economic Impact Payments.”
Any payments incorrectly sent to closed or pass through accounts will be issued within two weeks, the spokesperson said.
“We are working hard to minimize the burden on taxpayers wherever possible during this extraordinary time,” the IRS spokesperson told CNBC. “We have been working around the clock on the stimulus payments and the filing season.”
