Economic Impact (Stimulus) Payments Paid to Deceased Individuals

As you may be aware, by this time, millions of Americans have received stimulus checks under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act). However, what you might not know is that a large number of stimulus checks were also sent out in the name of recently (2019 – 2020) deceased individuals.

Over the past few weeks, there has been much discussion as to whether these payments were intended to be sent, whether they were sent in error and, most importantly to most, whether these checks can be kept by the decedent’s estate and distributed to beneficiaries.

The Internal Revenue Service finally provided guidance on this issue today in its Economic Impact Payment Information Center located on its website: www.irs.gov. More specifically, the Internal Revenue Service has now stated:

“A Payment made to someone who died before receipt of the Payment should be returned to the IRS by following the instructions about repayments. Return the entire Payment unless the Payment was made to joint filers and one spouse had not died before receipt of the Payment, in which case, you only need to return the portion of the Payment made on account of the decedent. This amount will be $1,200 unless adjusted gross income exceeded $150,000.”

Should you have questions about an Economic Impact (Stimulus) Payment received or the administration of a loved one’s estate during these difficult times, please feel free to contact us at (610) 385-1090.

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