Taxpayers who haven’t yet received their economic impact payments could soon get them via prepaid debit cards distributed by Treasury and the IRS.
Treasury announced May 18 that almost 4 million debit cards will start going out this week. Eligible individuals are those who have no bank information on file with the IRS and whose tax returns were processed at the IRS service centers in Austin, Texas, or Andover, Massachusetts.
Treasury said the debit cards will be mailed by its financial agent, MetaBank.
Treasury also said it has already delivered more than 140 million payments, which were mandated by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act (P.L. 116-136) and provide up to $1,200 per individual and $500 per dependent under the age of 17.
The announcement came the same day the IRS said (IR-2020-97) it has added 3,500 phone operators to answer taxpayer calls about their economic impact payments. It added that it expects to bring back additional phone operators as local and state coronavirus-related restrictions ease.
But the IRS is also still asking that taxpayers take most inquiries about stimulus payments and tax questions to the agency’s website.
Meanwhile, phone assistance for tax questions and tax practitioner services remain limited, tax practitioners and the IRS Newswire noted. Tax professionals have been critical of some of the IRS’s priorities, which have favored lender-oriented services such as the income verification express service — reopened for 24 hours May 18 — while the practitioner priority service remains mostly shuttered.
IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig has asked tax professionals and taxpayers for patience while the IRS balances workers’ safety with the need to provide services during the coronavirus pandemic.
An estimated 44,000 IRS employees are working remotely while the IRS tries to restructure working environments for social distancing during the pandemic. The IRS has been slowly reopening since Rettig issued an emergency evacuation order of nearly all agency facilities March 27, with at least 11,000 workers having been asked to voluntarily return to brick-and-mortar agency operations.
Wesley Elmore contributed to this article.