Trouble tracking your stimulus check with Get My Payment? 6 problems and how to solve them

So you’re waiting for your second stimulus check to come for up to $600 per person (including your child dependents)? You’ve estimated your total check size, learned the IRS method for calculating your stimulus payment and you’ve even become well-versed on what happens after Congress’ Jan. 15 cutoff for the IRS and Treasury to send payments

Now all that’s left is actually receiving your stimulus money, through direct deposit, physical checks or an EIP card.

If you’ve tried to use the IRS’s Get My Payment app to check on the status of your payment but it’s not telling you anything useful — or anything at all. Here are some possible solutions we’ve discovered from the first and second stimulus checks. And here’s what’s happening now with the debated third stimulus check for $2,000.

The IRS doesn’t have enough information about you

The IRS said if the Get My Payment tool isn’t sharing useful information about the whereabouts of your check, it may not have enough information about your specific circumstance, especially if you didn’t file a 2019 tax return, didn’t use the Non-Filers tool by Nov. 21, 2020 or don’t receive federal benefits. You’ll need to use the Recovery Rebate Credit as part of Tax Season 2020 to file a claim for your missing money.

Try using a different browser with Get My Payment

With the first check, we heard from several readers that accessing the IRS’ Get My Payment tool from a different browser than the one originally used could be the key to success to using the service. In particular, some CNET readers pointed out that trying a browser other than Google Chrome worked from them. Firefox, Microsoft Edge and Apple’s Safari are common alternatives.


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Type your address in all caps

Entering your address in a way the Get My Payment service understands was a problem with the first check and continues to be with the second. Some readers reported with the first check filling in the Get My Payment fields using all uppercase letters worked. The IRS said to enter your street address using this format: 123 Main St NW #7 and to not enter the city, state or town on the address line.

You may have typed your information incorrectly; try again

The simplest reason the IRS might not be able to match you with your stimulus payment status could come down to your keyboard. If you accidentally entered a typo, the wrong address or a different name than the government has under your record, the tool may not be able to find you. This one is simple enough to correct — so try again before assuming the worst.

You checked at the wrong time of day

The IRS only updates information once a day, overnight, so if you happen to time it before the update comes, you may be out of luck. You can always try again later in the day or keep checking at the same time each day.

You’re temporarily locked out of the Get My Payment tool

If you see a cryptic message that only says “Try again later,” you might be locked out of the tool. According to the IRS, “If the information you enter does not match our records multiple times, you will be locked out of Get My Payment for 24 hours for security reasons. There is no need to contact the IRS.”

Speaking of which, the IRS has a new preference for how you contact it — no calling. Instead, here’s how to go about hunting down your missing stimulus money. For more information about stimulus checks, here’s everything else that could hold up your second stimulus payment, and how to claim any missing money after Jan. 15.

source: cnet.com