Dead Americans Among Stimulus Recipients

Problems arise as stimulus checks are being distributed across the US, including to the recently deceased.

Speed Over Accuracy?

A huge amount of Americans have already received stimulus payments this week, with a little surprise for many, who were notified that payments had gone through to relatives who have passed away.

The IRS hasn’t commented on whether or not the payments made to those not among the living will be repaid to the government, although previous statements say that recipients won’t have to pay back anything.

The problem comes about mainly due to speed – the program was passed with urgency and meant to cover virtually all of America, using older information, in some cases going back to 2018. The payments to deceased people are errors caused by lawmakers’ focus on speed and not so much on accuracy.

“Congress erred on the side of speed, which nearly everyone agreed was the right answer in this case,” former tax counsel in the US Senate, Gordon Gray said, adding that the current mechanisms don’t account for those who have passed away since their last interaction with Treasury.

Despite the glitch, the IRS stated that the website is functioning smoothly, with more than 6.2 million taxpayers successfully getting their payment status, with the addition of a “waiting room” to ease traffic on the site, should the volume get too high.