The Internal Revenue Service has been mailing letters this month advising certain Americans they need to disburse back their stimulus payments worth $600, $1,200, and even $2,000. Coronavirus stimulus payments are part of a $2 trillion governmental aid program passed to help people affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Since the original report, innumerous individuals have confirmed receiving letters from the IRS asking for reimbursement. Melanie Dakota, a New York resident thought at first glance it was an error. She continued that they are considerably below the income criteria for previous stimulus checks, so they should not be owing to the IRS. Dakota’s first mail indicated she and her husband, who make less than $70,000, owed $1,800.
Stimulus Payment to Federal Beneficiaries (File Photo: John Angelillo)
Natalie Bonelli, a Massachusetts woman says in her case, it’s a mistake. The IRS sent her an official letter around the beginning of August, demanding that she must repay the $600 stimulus payment she claimed on her 2020 tax return, plus $3.12 in interest.
Natalie was living in Brooklyn when the pandemic started. In the spring of 2020, she received a paper check for the first stimulus payment. However, she returned to Massachusetts and claims that the $600 stimulus check she received in December went elsewhere in Brooklyn but not to her.
So she did as the IRS instructed: she claimed the missing payment – which she claims she qualified for and is rightfully hers – on her 2020 tax return, which she filed this spring. She believed she was done with it until she received the IRS notice in the mail.
Unlike the Massachusetts resident who struggled to find anyone who could help, Dakota was able to contact an IRS representative about the matter. She then explained that the IRS told her she would have to respond to the letter immediately, likely repay it, then reclaim it through an appeals process.
When the IRS suspects that double stimulus checks were sent, letters are being sent out. According to IRS records, two payments of $1,200 and $600 were sent out, according to agency representatives.
In any case, notwithstanding the magnitude of the accusations mentioned therein, the payback letter does not include a pause. Interest may accrue, and if the IRS is required to go through an administrative process, extra fees may be incurred.
Dakota and her husband, on the other hand, have been left feeling defeated by the process. She concluded that IRS takes from the same individuals the stimulus checks were meant to benefit and it feels like extortion.
