The government’s economic stimulus payments are being distributed to a wide swath of Americans, including some who are recently deceased.
When the money reached many Americans’ bank accounts on Wednesday, some recipients were surprised to find payments for spouses or parents who had passed away.
It’s an expected consequence of a program passed with urgency and meant to cover as many people as possible. The Internal Revenue Service is relying on data that is as old as 2018 in some cases, resulting in people who are no longer alive included in the payments.
The IRS declined to comment about whether the payments to the deceased would have to be repaid to the government. Generally the agency has said that recipients will not have to pay back any of the money.
Representative Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican, said he was alerted to the situation by a text message from a friend whose late father received a payment. – READ MORE
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