Coronavirus (NO POLITICAL OR SOCIAL COMMENTARY PLEASE)

[mar3o]

I qualified for non-filer status but I didn't know that when I mailed out my return last month because at the time we were being told it was the only way to get a check, by filing a return. I prepared it online through one of the approved sites but it said I had to print and mail it. So I mailed my return. Then just over a week later I hear you will be able to enter your info as a non-filer and put in your direct deposit info.

So did I screw myself by mailing in my return a few weeks ago? If I had just put it off another week or two I would have learned about the page for non-filers and I would already have my info in. But because I sent in my return now I can't use the non-filer page. Also, my girlfriend should certainly qualify, but she just mailed her return a few weeks ago too.

Is there a phone number we can call about this? I'm guessing they're not taking phone calls. "The IRS said it’s currently unable to provide live assistance due to reduced staffing because of the coronavirus pandemic."

They specifically say on their non-filer page:

"Do NOT use this tool if you will be filing a 2019 return. If you are required to file a return, using this tool will NOT speed up your Economic Impact Payment and will likely slow down processing of your tax return and receiving any refund."

I wasn't required to file a return but I did. So now that I did I can't use the tool I guess.

[Lee A Stewart]

Originally Posted by mar3o

Still no stimulus money for me or my girlfriend. Both of us mailed in our taxes last month. No idea if they even processed our tax refunds before shutting down paper tax refund processing due to the virus. Putting our info in on "Get my Payment" gives no information. No idea what we should do. They don't have our direct deposit info, but we were going to put it in on the "Get my payment" screen. But we can't get that far. You can file a request for the stimulus if you haven't filed your taxes or don't need to file this year, but we both mailed our returns already, so we can't do that I'm assuming. No idea what to do about this. We both qualify.

All we get is "Payment Status Not Available".

Still no idea how to fill in those stupid fields.

I live in an apartment. I prepared my taxes online and printed them out as I had to mail them. There's a box already filled in for the apartment number (Apt. no.). But on their "Get my payment" page, there's no place to put in the apartment number. So how do I enter it? Avenue is abbreviated as ave on the return.

123 Main Ave apt. 45
123 Main Ave apt 45
123 Main Ave 45
123 Main ave apartment 45

My zip code is listed as the main 5 digits plus the additional 4. Do I list those last 4 or not?

12345-6789
12345

Do I do the slashes for the date of birth like it shows, with the full 4-digit year? Or leave out the slashes?

So I have no idea if they haven't processed our returns, and if they will even get to them at all anytime in the next few months, or if we're just not entering the info in exactly as they want it. Horrible site.

According to some posts on Reddit, they are using your current registered USPS address, so regardless of what you filled in on your tax return, use your current USPS address. I'm not sure how the USPS has mine registered exactly. Ave.? Avenue? apt? Apartment?

Enter SS# as . . . 666-66-6666

Enter DOB as . . . 01/01/1999

Enter Zip Code as . . . 87120

Address is probably case sensitive so it would be either Apt or #. Ave will work but no "." Whatever address you used on your 2018 tax return is the one you need to use.

If you mailed in your return a month ago the IRS has not processed it. They will go with your 2018 tax return info. Because you don't have a direct deposit set up you will probably get a check which will go out starting this week and continue into June.

The IRS is doing some maintenance on the GET MY PAYMENT program so you should try again in the next day or so.

[mar3o]

From an article on Time:

"Chris Blanchette, a 31-year-old small business owner in Florida, told TIME that he repeatedly entered his information into Get My Payment — and was locked out for 24 hours after trying too many times — before he realized he had to exclude the number sign from his address. He’s frustrated that the IRS site doesn’t offer a different message for people who made a mistake and those who simply don’t qualify for a payment."

Mind-mindbogglingly poor site. It says the same thing whether you input the info wrong (just a / or . or # can throw it off) or if you're not in the system at al.. So how are you to know? And nobody to talk to. I don't see any site mentioning my scenario.

[mar3o]

Originally Posted by Lee A Stewart

Enter SS# as . . . 666-66-6666

Enter DOB as . . . 01/01/1999

Enter Zip Code as . . . 87120

Address is probably case sensitive so it would be either Apt or #. Ave will work but no "." Whatever address you used on your 2018 tax return is the one you need to use.

If you mailed in your return a month ago the IRS has not processed it. They will go with your 2018 tax return info. Because you don't have a direct deposit set up you will probably get a check which will go out starting this week and continue into June.

The IRS is doing some maintenance on the GET MY PAYMENT program so you should try again in the next day or so.

But my girlfriend also isn't getting any info, and they certainly have her tax return from last year for 2018 since she got a refund (by check). So why isn't her info coming up? Maybe because we tried it without the dashes?

I was told to not enter the dashes earlier in this thread for the social security number. Total confusion. Leave it to our government to royally screw this up.

[Lee A Stewart]

Originally Posted by mar3o

But my girlfriend also isn't getting any info, and they certainly have her tax return from last year for 2018 since she got a refund (by check). So why isn't her info coming up? Maybe because we tried it without the dashes?

I was told to not enter the dashes earlier in this thread for the social security number. Total confusion. Leave it to our government to royally screw this up.

Put the dashes in. When I entered my SS# without them it told me to reenter the number as shown (with dashes). When I did that it then told me my DOB was not entered properly because I left out the "/" between the MM/DD/YEAR.

[mar3o]

Originally Posted by Lee A Stewart

Put the dashes in. When I entered my SS# without them it told me to reenter the number as shown (with dashes). When I did that it then told me my DOB was not entered properly because I left out the "/" between the MM/DD/YEAR.

Thanks. Mine still isn't working and I entered everything exactly as you listed here. We'll try my girlfriend's tomorrow and see if she has any luck. So frustrating.

[mar3o]

Originally Posted by Lee A Stewart

Enter SS# as . . . 666-66-6666

Enter DOB as . . . 01/01/1999

Enter Zip Code as . . . 87120

Address is probably case sensitive so it would be either Apt or #. Ave will work but no "." Whatever address you used on your 2018 tax return is the one you need to use.

If you mailed in your return a month ago the IRS has not processed it. They will go with your 2018 tax return info. Because you don't have a direct deposit set up you will probably get a check which will go out starting this week and continue into June.

The IRS is doing some maintenance on the GET MY PAYMENT program so you should try again in the next day or so.

See other info I read on Reddit (yeah, grain of salt) said regardless of what you used on your previous returns, use your current address, as they are using your current USPS address as listed with USPS. I think everyone is just guessing because they gave us very few actual facts.

[mar3o]

Originally Posted by MrHT

Well for one thing, staying at home is easy.... just stay at home. No effort involved. Wearing a mask... again, easy. Wash your hands... another easy task (takes no more than 2 minutes to do). Yet, somehow, people still don't do what they're supposed to and that's why this pandemic is never ending.

So yeah, getting through this is easy, but people are just stubborn.

We can still do it. Stay at home, wear a mask, keep 6 feet distance, and wash & sanitize your hands. But are people going to do it? Of course not! Look at Georgia! They sure as hell ain't doing it!

Wearing a mask is not easy if you don't have one. Because you have to then make one or find one online. If you make one, you have figure out how to make one, test different materials, sew it up, try it, make sure it fits and stays up, etc.

The one I wore last week was a nightmare (dust mask).

[Lee A Stewart]

[Lee A Stewart]

2 studies show many people who tested positive for Covid-19 displayed no symptoms

(CNN)Two coronavirus studies released Friday -- one involving almost 2,000 people from Florida and the other from a Washington state nursing home -- came to the same conclusion: Many of the people who tested positive for the virus didn't know it they had it because they showed no symptoms.

The findings add to a growing body of evidence suggesting that people who don't feel sick are contributing to the spread of the deadly virus that has swept the world.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/24/us/2-...ies/index.html

[mar3o]

Originally Posted by Lee A Stewart

Great, but that was posted after I mailed my paper returns. If they told us this from the beginning, I would have done the non-filer as I'm not required to file. But a few weeks ago nobody knew how it was going to work, so I went online to do my taxes. Because I mailed it in, I'm screwed. They don't have any info from me for last year.

I tried to submit my return online but due to the numbers it said I had to mail them (something about certain numbers being 0).

So now we're both screwed because we both filed paper? My girlfriend filed last year so she should absolutely be in the system even if they didn't process her paper return this year.

There should be a way to request the payment if you mailed in your return but it's sitting in a room unprocessed for the next few months. This is why they should be taking phone calls - to deal with issues like this.

[ThePreacher]

Originally Posted by mar3o

Great, but that was posted after I mailed my paper returns. If they told us this from the beginning, I would have done the non-filer as I'm not required to file. But a few weeks ago nobody knew how it was going to work, so I went online to do my taxes. Because I mailed it in, I'm screwed. They don't have any info from me for last year.

I tried to submit my return online but due to the numbers it said I had to mail them (something about certain numbers being 0).

So now we're both screwed because we both filed paper? My girlfriend filed last year so she should absolutely be in the system even if they didn't process her paper return this year.

There should be a way to request the payment if you mailed in your return but it's sitting in a room unprocessed for the next few months. This is why they should be taking phone calls - to deal with issues like this.

I don't know anyone that files via paper. There are so many reasons to file electronically - ease being the biggest one.

[mar3o]

Originally Posted by ThePreacher

I don't know anyone that files via paper. There are so many reasons to file electronically - ease being the biggest one.

Sure. Like I said, I prepared it online. Then at the last stage where it uploads the return, it said there was an issue and due to the zeros I had to mail it in - it couldn't file electronically.

I have no idea why my girlfriend mails hers in though - her dad does them for her and just does it the old-fashioned way, then mails it in.
Apparently they put zero thought into what to do if you're in this situation - filed taxes this year, but by mail, so it's sitting in a room unprocessed since they're not processing them, and no data from last year. At some point supposedly they should process my paper return, but that could be fall for all I know.

[ArrestedDevelopment]

Thanks Celebrities - YouTube

[mar3o]

Originally Posted by TheBoss062

I really hate buzzfeed

Buzzfeed annoys me indeed, but Buzzfeed News is very good, and much better researched than many sites. They've won awards for their journalism.

[mar3o]

Originally Posted by bruceames

Still, I can't see why the second wave could be worse. For one thing everyone will be more prepared, and also a lot more people will have immunity. Maybe they think another, more deadly strain will emerge?

It may just be that they know we can't do another shutdown this fall. So if it hits us again this fall/winter, we may have to struggle through it and go to work anyways, risking spreading it more.

I can't imagine spending all summer slowly opening things up only to shut it all down again late this year. It would be a death blow to our economy at that point, not to mention supply chains being further wrecked.

[Lee A Stewart]

Originally Posted by mar3o

Great, but that was posted after I mailed my paper returns. If they told us this from the beginning, I would have done the non-filer as I'm not required to file. But a few weeks ago nobody knew how it was going to work, so I went online to do my taxes. Because I mailed it in, I'm screwed. They don't have any info from me for last year.

I tried to submit my return online but due to the numbers it said I had to mail them (something about certain numbers being 0).

So now we're both screwed because we both filed paper? My girlfriend filed last year so she should absolutely be in the system even if they didn't process her paper return this year.

There should be a way to request the payment if you mailed in your return but it's sitting in a room unprocessed for the next few months. This is why they should be taking phone calls - to deal with issues like this.

You and your girlfriend filed your 2018 tax returns by mail right? If that is the case then you will have to wait for your stimulus checks to come in the mail which will take up to 6 weeks or so.

There is no one to take phone calls. You will just have to wait it out. If you haven't received your checks by June 15th THEN you will have to somehow contact the IRS and let them know. Hopefully by then they will have added phone staff.

[mar3o]

Originally Posted by Lee A Stewart

You and your girlfriend filed your 2018 tax returns by mail right? If that is the case then you will have to wait for your stimulus checks to come in the mail which will take up to 6 weeks or so.

There is no one to take phone calls. You will just have to wait it out. If you haven't received your checks by June 15th THEN you will have to somehow contact the IRS and let them know. Hopefully by then they will have added phone staff.

Right, we both mailed them in around the same time a few weeks ago. But there's no telling how long their paper processing department will be shut down. I didn't know at the time but I qualified as a non-filer, so I could have skipped mailing mine. But I did so it's too late.

Still, she had completed her return last year, so why is she not in the system when we go to "Get my payment"? Even if this year's return is sitting in a pile, in that case they should use last year's return for her, so she should still have her info come up.

[Lee A Stewart]

Originally Posted by mar3o

Right, we both mailed them in around the same time a few weeks ago. But there's no telling how long their paper processing department will be shut down. I didn't know at the time but I qualified as a non-filer, so I could have skipped mailing mine. But I did so it's too late.

Still, she had completed her return last year, so why is she not in the system when we go to "Get my payment"? Even if this year's return is sitting in a pile, in that case they should use last year's return for her, so she should still have her info come up.

I asked you about your 2018 tax returns not your 2019 returns which the IRS hasn't processed yet. But they did process your 2018 returns. It had to be sent in no later than April 15th 2019.

When you entered her info on GET MY PAYMENT what did you get as a response?

EDIT:

Are either you or your girlfriend being claimed as a dependent by someone else, for instance she is claimed as a dependent by her father?

[mar3o]

Originally Posted by Lee A Stewart

I asked you about your 2018 tax returns not your 2019 returns which the IRS hasn't processed yet. But they did process your 2018 returns. It had to be sent in no later than April 15th 2019.

When you entered her info on GET MY PAYMENT what did you get as a response?

EDIT:

Are either you or your girlfriend being claimed as a dependent by someone else, for instance she is claimed as a dependent by her father?

No one is claiming anyone as a dependent. She gets the same response as I do - "Payment Status Not Available". Makes no sense. And she doesn't have any apartment numbers to complicate the address line either. She got her refund last year so there' s no reason she should not come up when she enters her info on "get my payment".