PFEIFFER: Van Shockley falls in that category. KELLEHER: But there's equally thousands that are saying, well, if they were silly enough to make this mistake, it's their mistake, and I'm not going to give it back until they ask for it.
Many non-Americans who received a check in error are now trying to return it because they worry it will jeopardize their visa or immigration status. PFEIFFER: Acceptable, he said, because Congress opted for speed over accuracy when it flooded the U.S. KELLEHER: It's awful when we hear of millions of dollars going into the wrong hands, but it was probably within a somewhat acceptable threshold of error or margin of error. Kelleher said the most common were India, China, South Korea, Vietnam and the United Kingdom, as well as numerous nations in Latin America. PFEIFFER: Sprintax has clients from about 150 countries who mistakenly received stimulus checks. KELLEHER: It'd be great if they did because I believe that there's millions of dollars that has gone to people that weren't entitled to it or that certainly are not the intended recipient. PFEIFFER: Enda Kelleher is a vice president at Sprintax, which does U.S. tax return at all.ĮNDA KELLEHER: I think the poor folks in the IRS don't have the bandwidth to go chasing this. That $34 million also does not include people like Wigforss who got a check but don't file a U.S.
For example, NPR interviewed a citizen of the Dominican Republic who was not eligible yet got a check at his former address in Massachusetts. And it does not include citizens of other countries who received a check at a U.S. But that includes eligible people, like U.S. The Treasury did find that as of late May, $34 million in stimulus had gone to people who filed a tax return with a foreign address. WIGFORSS: How much money is bleeding out from the Treasury Department because of these stimulus checks? - I wonder. Wigforss is even likely to get another check. That means if a new relief plan passes in the final weeks of the Trump administration or during the Biden administration and if it includes more stimulus payments, some of that money is again likely to mistakenly end up in mailboxes overseas. government has put no mechanisms in place to prevent these mistakes from happening again. PFEIFFER: Since Congress passed its coronavirus relief package in March, the U.S. There's no way I'm going to cash this money. She receives a small Social Security payment from having worked in California for several years, and she believes that's why the IRS erroneously sent her a stimulus check. PFEIFFER: The IRS now says it mistakenly sent checks to some noncitizens who receive Social Security and other federal benefits - people like Susanne Wigforss. Why should a Swedish citizen living abroad receive $1,200? I love America, and this is so wrong 'cause I saw that a number of people were being evicted every month in Chicago, for instance, and I thought, one of those families would have needed this stimulus check. Asked about this by NPR, the IRS now acknowledges that some non-Americans erroneously received stimulus money through no fault of their own.
government said the reason many noncitizens mistakenly receive checks is they filed incorrect tax returns that made them appear to be American. citizens and individuals that, for tax purposes, the IRS calls resident aliens. The only people eligible for stimulus checks are U.S. PFEIFFER: It's crazy, she says, because she is not entitled to that money. WIGFORSS: And I thought, I can't believe it. PFEIFFER: It was a stimulus check for $1,200. SUSANNE WIGFORSS: And it says the White House, Washington, July 31 - your economic impact payment has arrived. And over the summer, she was surprised to get a check in the mail from the United States Treasury, followed by a letter signed by President Donald J. SACHA PFEIFFER, BYLINE: Susanne Wigforss is a 78-year-old citizen of Sweden who lives in the country's capital, Stockholm. But as Sacha Pfeiffer from our NPR investigations team reports, the IRS now says those non-Americans were not always at fault and the mistake is likely to happen again if more stimulus checks go out.
government previously blamed the recipients for that error. Earlier this year, our team of reporters discovered that stimulus money from the first coronavirus relief package had been mistakenly sent to citizens of other countries.
#Majikoi s error 1200 update#
The IRS now says its own error caused thousands of non-Americans living overseas to mistakenly receive $1,200 stimulus checks - and the mistake could happen again if more stimulus money goes out.Īll right - an update to an NPR investigation now.
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