IRS Says Check Is in the Mail If Your Stimulus Payment Was Wrongfully Offset

IRS SAYS CHECK IS IN THE MAIL IF YOUR STIMULUS PAYMENT WAS WRONGFULLY OFFSET AGAINST YOUR SPOUSE'S PAST-DUE CHILD SUPPORT OBLIGATIONS

Earlier this year the U.S. Treasury mailed millions of $1,200 stimulus checks to Americans earning less than $75,000 per year. However, many joint-filing individuals have never received their Economic Impact Stimulus Payments (“EIP”) to this day. The IRS believes that about 50,000 joint-filing individuals had their share of the EIP erroneously diverted and offset to pay their spouse’s past-due child support obligations.

In a recent press release, the IRS acknowledged that this diversion/offset of one spouse’s share of an EIP to offset against the other spouse’s past-due child support payments was not proper and vows to fix the problem soon. Regardless of whether the eligible spouse previously submitted a Form 8379 (Injured Spouse Allocation) to the IRS, the IRS will automatically mail catch-up checks to all affected individuals without any further action required by the taxpayer. However, the IRS does not have an exact timeline for mailing these catch-up payments, which are designed to reimburse the eligible spouse for his/her portion of the EIP that was erroneously applied to the other spouse’s debt.