The coronavirus relief checks are sparking confusion and anger among many Americans.
NBC News reported that some recipients are confusing their checks with their tax refunds. They are coded identically on bank statements as “TAX REF.” Some were expecting a bigger refund or a bigger stimulus check as they mistook one for the other.
Some others were angry when their stimulus payment was less than $1,200 because they interpreted that number as a flat payout.
And others were complaining the new IRS portal designed to check the status of stimulus payments was failing. Instead of getting needed information, people complained of receiving a message saying: “Payment status not available," according to CBS News.
“It’s very frustrating,” Jason Hale of Oak Park, Illinois said.
Meanwhile, NBC News said people were left frustrated when they learned friends have received their stimulus checks while they continued to wait.
"This is all just insane," said Alejandro Alarcon of Miami, Florida.
Some of the problems are a result of the giant task given to the IRS, which has been hit with budget cuts over the years, according to NBC News. While the agency works on the checks, tens of millions of cash-strapped Americans are looking to the payments as a lifeline.
The IRS said Wednesday the website had provided payment status to 6.2 million Americans.
Jeffrey Rodack ✉
Jeffrey Rodack, who has nearly a half century in news as a senior editor and city editor for national and local publications, has covered politics for Newsmax for nearly seven years.
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.