FL Residents: Check Your Stimulus Payment Status

FLORIDA — Florida residents are looking forward to the payment expected as part of a $2 trillion federal economic relief package intended to soften the financial and economic blow caused by the new coronavirus pandemic.

Some payments have begun arriving and a new website has been launched to track the status of your money if you have not received it yet. U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the Internal Revenue Service created an online portal, which launched Wednesday. The portal will help Americans track when the payments are likely to show up in their bank accounts or mailboxes.

Through the "Get My Payment" tool, Americans can not only check on their payment status, but can also confirm payment type (direct deposit or check) and enter bank account information for direct deposit if the Internal Revenue Service doesn't have the information on file.

To use the tool, you'll input your Social Security Number, date of birth and address. The system will then tell you if your payment is being deposited, or if you need to enter banking information.

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“Get My Payment will offer people with a quick and easy way to find the status of their payment and, where possible, provide their bank account information if we don’t already have it,” said IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig. “Our IRS employees have been working non-stop on the Economic Impact Payments to help taxpayers in need.”

Mnuchin said the goal is to use direct deposit for as many payments as possible and avoid mailing checks.

Some Americans reported seeing direct deposits in their bank accounts last Saturday, and others started seeing deposits Monday. By Wednesday, 80 million people should receive a direct deposit in their bank account, Mnuchin has said.

But when the rest of Americans will receive their money will vary. The first group includes people who have already given their bank account information to the IRS for the direct deposit of tax refunds on 2018 or 2019 tax returns, USA Today reported. Additionally, Social Security beneficiaries who filed federal tax returns that included direct deposit information would be part of that first group.

The second wave of money could hit bank accounts the week of April 20 for a group of people who receive Social Security benefits via direct deposit but may not make enough money to be required to file a federal income tax return in 2018 or 2019.

For those receiving paper checks, the first round is expected to go out in late April or possibly the first week in May. The first checks are supposed to go out to families who have the lowest incomes — possibly those who make less than $10,000 a year, according to USA Today.

Unemployment soars in Florida, system problems

Across Florida, the state's newly jobless residents have been frustrated by their inability to file for unemployment on the state's overwhelmed Florida Department of Economic Opportunity's Connect website.

Between March 15 and April 5, more than 562,000 Floridians applied for unemployment. That's more than the 326,653 applications received for the entire year in 2019.

Workers complain that the system knocks them offline or won't accept their PIN numbers to log on. When they call the Florida Reemployment Assistance Call Center for help, they say their calls go unanswered.

Ken Lawson, executive director of the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity, said the department is working on solutions to the backlog of requests, including adding call center staff and introducing a user-friendly app for smart phones and tablets. He's also giving jobless residents an opportunity to return to basics and fill out a paper unemployment application.

A copy of the unemployment application can be downloaded here.

A copy of the unemployment application in Spanish can be downloaded here.

Hillsborough County has opened drive-thru services at two libraries to offer unemployment forms to those who do not have access to a printer. Residents can go to the Jan Kaminis Platt Regional Library, 3910 S. Manhattan Ave., and the Jimmie B. Keel Regional Library, 2902 W. Bearss Ave., to pick up the printed forms used to apply for unemployment assistance.

Once completed, residents can drop off the forms at either drive-thru, and library staff will mail the documents for them.

Hours are 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. The two library drive-thrus will be open exclusively to distribute and collect unemployment assistance applications. Otherwise, county libraries remain closed to the public.

For resources, click here to find links for all the state's CareerSource offices.

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