Feds Sent Nearly 1.2 Million ‘Economic Impact Payments’ to Dead People – By Terence P. Jeffrey (CNS News) / Aug 31 2020
(CNSNews.com) – The federal government sent nearly 1.2 million “economic impact payments” authorized by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act to people who were dead and, therefore, not qualified to receive them, according to a report published today by the Government Accountability Office.
“Treasury and IRS sent almost 1.2 million economic impact payments totaling $1.6 billion to deceased individuals,” the GAO said in its report, which is entitled “COVID-19: Brief Update on Initial Federal Response to the Pandemic.”
“In June 2020, we recommended that IRS consider cost-effective options for notifying ineligible recipients on how to return payments,” said the GAO report. “IRS agreed with this recommendation.
“Treasury and IRS have taken steps to implement this recommendation and are considering further actions,” it said. “Currently, IRS has instructions on its website requesting that individuals voluntarily mail the appropriate economic impact payment amount sent to the decedent or incarcerated individual back to IRS, for both electronic and paper check payments. The envelopes in which paper checks were sent also have a checkbox to indicate if the recipient is deceased, which then could be mailed back to the Bureau of the Fiscal Service. Treasury has also held and canceled payments to decedents along with those that have been returned.”
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