As your friends and family receive their third stimulus checks, you may have grown increasingly worried about the status of your own economic impact payment. Due to some changes in check distribution this time around, your third economic impact payment may still be coming. Additionally, the IRS is no longer providing assistance via phone, as they did for the first stimulus payments, instead encouraging those eligible to check the status of their payment through the IRS’s payment tracker tool, which you can access by clicking here. If your payment has been delayed, the most common reasons are outlined below.

  1. Where was my payment direct deposited?  Your stimulus payment can only be direct deposited into an account that the IRS has on file. For most people, this is the account where they have previously received tax refunds. However, if you are receiving Social Security retirement via direct deposit, that is most likely the bank account on the IRS’s record. If you are a resident of a long-term care facility, such as a nursing home or assisted living, and your Social Security is paid to them directly, your economic impact payment may have gone there. Ask the business office, they may be able to write you a check for the amount from your Personal Needs Account (PNA).
  2. Is your paper check delayed? If the IRS has your current address, either through Social Security or your 2019 or 2020 tax return, it will be mailed there. Alternatively, if you moved in 2020 and the IRS does not have your address change, electronically file your 2020 tax return as soon as possible using your new address. If you have already filed your 2020 taxes or if you do not file taxes, you can set up direct deposit via the IRS’s payment tracker tool. The United States Postal Service is also experiencing its own delays, so any lag could likely be on their end as well.
  3. Are you an SSI or SSDI recipient? For Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) recipients, the third round of stimulus payments just started going out the weekend of April third. The same is true for those who receive their benefits through Railroad Retirement. Alternatively, if you receive a pension or disability payment through Veterans Affairs, the IRS has just begun to review eligibility and will determine a payment date soon with checks estimated to begin going out by mid-April.

The good news: If you are a Medicaid recipient, once you receive your third stimulus check, it is not considered to be a countable resource for Medicaid purposes until a year after receipt. It is also exempt from the Medicaid gifting rules, so it can be transferred to a family member to hold on your behalf.