TurboTax says stimulus payments will start being deposited for millions of customers after IRS account error

 

Millions of TurboTax customers should receive their stimulus payments in the next few days after an IRS error led to a delay and much confusion, the company said Friday.

The payments will be deposited into the same bank account that customers received their 2019 tax refunds and many will be available Friday, according to TurboTax, though that will vary by bank.

Customers of many tax preparation companies, including TurboTax, H&R Block, Jackson Hewitt and others, noticed earlier this week that their stimulus checks had been deposited into bank accounts they did not recognize. The companies soon notified taxpayers that the IRS had erroneously deposited the payments into temporary "pass-through" accounts from previous years that customers no longer had access to.

The IRS said that mistakes happened because of the speed at which it was required to send out the second round of stimulus payments.

Now, TurboTax says the issue has been fixed. Many H&R Block customers who faced a similar issue received their payments earlier this week.

"We have been working tirelessly with the Treasury and IRS to get stimulus payments to our customers," said TurboTax in an update. "We know how important these funds are for so many Americans, and we regret that an IRS error caused a delay."

The status change may not be reflected in the IRS Get My Payment tool right away, the company noted. Customers should check their bank accounts to see the payments reflected. It is not clear if this also applies to TurboTax customers who have received the "Payment Status #2 – Not Available" message while using the IRS tool.