- People who filed taxes using H&R Block, TurboTax, and Jackson Hewitt faced a delay receiving their $1,200 stimulus checks.
- The IRS didn't have the information on file for people who used those or similar tax-prep services.
- Up to 21 million people were affected, one consumer law expert told The Post.
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Up to 21 million people who used tax-filing services like H&R Block, TurboTax, and Jackson Hewitt faced a delay receiving their stimulus checks to their bank accounts because the Internal Revenue Service did not have their direct-deposit information, The Washington Post reported on Thursday.
Consumer-law expert Vijay Raghavan told The Post the hiccup occurred because the IRS did not have direct-deposit information for people if they got an advance on their tax refund or if they had their tax prep fee pulled out of their refund.
Raghavan told the newspaper that tax-prep companies received customers' refunds, deducted the cost of filing their taxes, and sent out what remained to the customers.
H&R Block and TurboTax each charge a processing fee of $40 to pay for filing through refunds, on top of the upfront cost of preparing taxes, Business Insider's Tanza Loudenback reported.
Other glitches delayed payments and caused confusion among people waiting for their stimulus money, which is designed to offset the economic blow many have suffered during the coronavirus pandemic.
Many people reported that the new IRS portal aimed at allowing people to track the status of their payments didn't work for them, and they were met with a message saying "payment status not available."
The Treasury Department said over 80 million people would receive their stimulus checks to their bank accounts by Wednesday. That same day, the department announced that Americans receiving Supplemental Security Income benefits would no longer need to file a tax return to get a $1,200 stimulus check.
People earning below $75,000 are set to get the full check, but the amount scales down until eligibility cuts off at $99,000.
The same goes for couples earning below $150,000, but they no longer qualify for federal cash if they make above $198,000.
Over 150 million people are expected to receive the checks — 70 million of them by paper checks that will start being sent on April 24.
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