It seems like everyone is having difficulties accessing information in regards to their stimulus check, let alone receiving it. According to San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz, not a single person in Puerto Rico has received a stimulus check.
Many have encountered an error message of “payment status not available” when entering their information on the IRS’ government site. But, there may be hacks that may help you to, at the very least, find out more information about the status of your check. Jessica Roy, a reporter at the Los Angeles Times, suggested entering your address in all caps.
“The IRS website had a big update this week, so it’s possible the site only just ported over your information and will let you log in now without having to shout at it,” the LA Times reports. “There is a technological reason for this involving knowledge of arcane programming and the federal government’s aversion to investing in resolving its tech debt.”
After Roy suggested this trick on Twitter, many replied that it did the job! She followed up by suggesting other hacks:
Below are other suggested hacks, according to NBC 2, in case those don’t work–or if you, like many of us, are desperate to try everything and anything. (But! You should know: you only get three tries to log in every 24 hours.)
1. Take note as to how your information is written in your 2018 or 2019 tax return and enter it as so.
2. Not sure how your address is written on your tax forms? Enter your address into the USPS official site “and copy that directly into the address field in the IRS portal.”
3. While it doesn’t state to use dashes, “try entering your social security number with dashes in between like 123-45-6789.”
4. “Try using a different browser.”
5. Instead of abbreviating your street, try spelling it out.
We also advise you to revisit the IRS’ FAQ page as they recently updated their site to include feedback as to why some folks are getting the error message—spelled out here verbatim:
The Get My Payment application will return “Payment Status Not Available” for several reasons, including:
You are required to file a tax return, but:
- We haven’t finished processing your 2019 return
- The application doesn’t yet have your data; we’re working on adding more data to allow more people to use it.
You don’t usually file a return, and:
- You used Non-Filers
- You receive SSI or VA benefits; information has not been loaded onto our systems yet for people who don’t normally file a tax return.
Visit their site for more. Let us know which hacks—if any—work for you, and feel free to pass along to the rest of the fam. We all need a little help right now.