Shapiro: Stimulus payments delayed for those who used tax preparation companies
Pennsylvania residents who had their federal income tax returns prepared by a company may see a delay in receiving their stimulus checks.
Attorney General Josh Shapiro said Thursday that when companies like H&R Block and Intuit prepare a person’s taxes, they use temporary bank accounts. This caused a problem in getting the $600 payments to those individuals.
Shapiro said that affected people should expect to receive their payment after Feb. 1, when the Internal Revenue Services issues a second round through mailed checks.
“Unfortunately, the IRS used that information to issue stimulus checks, and therefore, some of the checks have been held up,” Shapiro said in a news release.
According to the IRS website, payments will be issued directly from the government later this month, and no action is required.
“Taxpayers do not need to take any action or call. The payments will be made automatically,” he said.
The IRS noted that the tax preparation companies are not in possession of the funds.
Those who qualify for the $600 per person payment (including $600 for each qualifying child) are those whose income does not exceed $150,000 if married and filing jointly or as a qualifying widow; those who do not exceed $112,500 if filing as head of household; or individuals earning more than $75,000.
For more information, call the IRS at 1-800-919-9835 or go to www.irs.gov/coronavirus/get-my-payment.
Paula Reed Ward is a TribLive reporter covering federal and Allegheny County courts. She joined the Trib in 2020 after spending nearly 17 years at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, where she was part of a Pulitzer Prize-winning team. She is the author of “Death by Cyanide.” She can be reached at pward@triblive.com.
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