Get My Payment Frequently Asked Questions

If you filed your 2018 or 2019 tax return, you can check Get My Payment for the status of your Economic Impact Payment.  If you filed your 2019 tax return and it has not been processed yet, you may receive “Payment Status Not Available.”

If you used the Non-Filer tool, you can check Get My Payment for the status of your Economic Impact Payment within two weeks. If you are required to file a 2019 tax return and you used the Non-Filer tool, this can cause a delay in processing your return and a delay with your Economic Impact Payment.

If you are an SSA-1099, RRB-1099, SSI or VA benefit recipient and did not file a return or use the Non-Filer tool, you can check Get My Payment for the status of your Economic Impact Payment now.

Either spouse can use Get My Payment by providing their own information for the security questions used to verify their identity. Once verified, the same payment status will be shown for both spouses. 

If you receive “Need More Information” and proceed to enter your direct deposit information, you should enter the Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) and Refund Amount or Amount You Owed exactly as it appears on your joint tax return. 

• The AGI can be found on Line 8b on your 2019 Form 1040 or 1040-SR, or Line 7 on your 2018 Form 1040.
• The refund amount can be found on Line 21a on your 2019 Form 1040 or 1040-SR, or line 20a on your 2018 Form 1040.
• The amount you owed can be found on Line 23 on your 2019 Form 1040 or 1040-SR, or Line 22 on your 2018 Form 1040.

Your Payment can only be directed to one bank account if you filed jointly.

Depending on your specific circumstances, it may not be possible for you to access Get My Payment.

If you used the Non-Filers: Enter Payment Info Here tool: 

• Get My Payment will display your Payment Status and details within two weeks. Until your payment is scheduled, you will receive a “Payment Status Not Available” message.

If you receive Supplementary Security Income (SSI), Survivor or Disability benefits (SSDI), Railroad Retirement benefits or Department of Veterans Affairs benefits  and did not file a return or use the Non-Filer tool:

• Get My Payment will display your Payment Status and details once it has been scheduled for delivery. Until then, you will receive a “Payment Status Not Available” message.
• You will not be able to use Get My Payment to provide your bank account information. The IRS will use the information from SSA or VA to generate your payment.
• You will receive your payment as a direct deposit or by mail, just as you would normally receive your benefits. For example, if your benefits are currently deposited to a Direct Express card, your EIP will also be deposited to that card. If your benefits are currently deposited to your bank account, your EIP will also be deposited to that account. 

Direct Express Account Holders: If you used the Non-Filers tool to add your spouse or qualifying children, you cannot receive your payment on your Direct Express card. You must select a bank account for direct deposit or leave bank information blank and receive the Payment by mail.

If you did not file a return, did not use the Non-Filer Tool or are not a recipient of SSA, SSI, RRB or VA benefits:

• The IRS may not have enough information on file for you to send you an Economic Impact Payment.
• Get My Payment will display a “Payment Status Not Available” message.

Yes, you can use Get My Payment to check the status of your payment after you verify your identity by answering the required security questions.

If you did not file a tax return for 2018 and 2019: You can check your payment status when it’s scheduled for delivery, however you will not be able to use Get My Payment to provide your bank account information. The IRS will use the information from SSA, RRB, SSI or VA to generate your payment. You will receive your payment as a direct deposit or by mail, just as you would normally receive your benefits.

For example, if your benefits are currently deposited to a Direct Express card, your EIP will also be deposited to that card. If your benefits are currently deposited to your bank account, your EIP will also be deposited to that account.

Direct Express Account Holders: If you used the Non-Filers: Enter Payment Info tool to add your spouse or qualifying children, you cannot receive your payment on your Direct Express card. You must select a bank account for direct deposit or leave bank information blank and receive the Payment by mail.

You can access Get My Payment using an ITIN, but in most cases, the law does not allow an Economic Impact Payment (EIP) for individuals who file a return using an ITIN. The only exception is when two spouses file a joint tax return and either spouse is a member of the U.S. Armed Forces at any time during the taxable year, in which case only one spouse needs to have a valid SSN.

If you’re getting “Payment Status Not Available”: Updates to your payment status are made no more than once per day, usually overnight.  For additional information, see Payment Status Not Available below.

If you’re receiving a “Payment Status” message without a payment date:

• If you entered your bank information in Get My Payment any day until noon on Tuesday, your payment date should be available beginning the following Saturday in Get My Payment.
• If you entered your bank information after noon on Tuesday, your payment date should be available beginning the Saturday after next in Get My Payment.

Get My Payment will display one of the following payment statuses:

1. Payment Status (one of two statuses) –

• A payment has been processed, a payment date is available, and payment is to be sent either by direct deposit or mail.
• You are eligible, but a payment has not been processed and a payment date is not available.

2. Need More Information – You are eligible for a payment, but we do not have your direct deposit information. You will be given the opportunity to provide your bank information once you have properly verified your identity. Direct Deposit is the fastest way to get your EIP.

3. Payment Status Not Available – We cannot determine your eligibility for a payment at this time. For additional information, see Payment Status Not Available below.

Updates to your payment status are made no more than once per day.

There are several reasons why your payment may have been sent by mail, including:

• If the payment was already in process before the bank information was entered, or
• If the bank rejects the deposit because the bank information is invalid or the bank account has been closed.

We will mail your payment to the address we have on file for you. Get My Payment will be updated to reflect the date your payment will be mailed. Typically, it will take up to 14 days to receive the payment, standard mailing time.

Note: It is not possible to change your bank information once your payment has been processed. No action is needed to contact the IRS as phone assistors won’t be able to change your bank information either.

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: Enter Payment Info Here but we haven’t processed your entry yet
• You’re not eligible for a payment (see EIP Eligibility and General Information).

If you receive “Payment Status Not Available”, you will not be able to provide direct deposit information at this time.  We’re working on updates to allow more people to use this feature.

We update Get My Payment data once per day, overnight so there is no need to check more often. If you are eligible for a payment and have provided your information either through a recent tax return or the Non-Filers: Enter Payment Info Here application, please check back for updates.

If Get My Payment indicates your payment is pending or has been processed, you cannot change your bank account information.

Your bank account information for your Economic Impact Payment is usually captured from:

• the most recently filed tax return if you received a refund by direct deposit in 2018 or 2019, or
• the bank information you provided on our Get My Payment application, or
• the bank information you provided on the Non-Filers: Enter Payment Info Here tool.
• If you elected to split your refund between several accounts, you cannot use Get My Payment to indicate which account to use for your Payment. We will deposit the Payment to the first bank account that you listed on Form 8888, Allocation of Refund. If your direct deposit is rejected, your payment will be mailed to the address we have on file for you. 

No. To help protect against potential fraud, the tool does not allow people to change direct deposit information already on file with the IRS.

If we issue a direct deposit and the bank information is invalid or the bank account has been closed, the bank will reject the deposit. We will then mail your Payment as soon as possible to the address we have on file for you, and we will update Get My Payment to reflect the date your payment will be mailed. Typically, once the payment is mailed, it will take up to 14 days to receive the payment, standard mailing time.

 If the bank account is closed, the bank will reject the deposit and you will be issued your payment to the address we have on file for you. If our Get My Payment application indicates your payment has been processed, you cannot change your bank account information.

Yes. You can use Get My Payment to check the status of your direct deposit after you provided your bank information. Updates to your payment status are made no more than once per day.

No, Where’s My Refund and View Your Account will not allow you to provide your bank information for purposes of your payment. Get My Payment is the only option available to enter your bank information to receive your payment through direct deposit instead of by mail if your payment has not already been scheduled. If Get My Payment is not available at the time you access it, you will need to try again later.

IRS is depositing to accounts identified on the 2018 or 2019 return, whichever is most current. When some taxpayers file their tax return, they may choose an option where they create a new bank account or a new prepaid debit card to help pay their fees or get their refund more quickly.  In these situations, taxpayers may:

• Use a banking product to help them complete the tax filing transaction, sometimes referred to as a Refund Anticipation Loan (RAL) or a Refund Anticipation Check (RAC).
• Choose to have their tax refund loaded onto a debit card provided by a variety of groups in the tax and financial communities.  

In some cases, your Economic Impact Payment may have been directed to the bank account associated with a product identified above. In these cases, the Economic Impact Payment may have been sent to the prepaid debit card , sent to you as a check, processed directly to your bank account identified for your refund amount or, in the event a payment was sent in error returned to the IRS for reprocessing. Continue to check the Get My Payment tool for updated information.

If you received your refund via a prepaid card or through your tax preparer, you may not recognize the information shown. In some cases, your preparer may have used an account number similar to your Social Security number.

Your bank account information for your Economic Impact Payment is captured from:

• the most recently filed tax return if you received a refund by direct deposit in 2018 or 2019, or
• the bank information you provided on our Get My Payment application, or
• the bank information you provided on the Non-Filers: Enter Payment Info Here tool.

If we issue a direct deposit and the bank information is invalid or the bank account has been closed, the bank will reject the deposit. We will then mail your payment as soon as possible to the address we have on file for you. Get My Payment will be updated to reflect the date your payment will be mailed. Typically, it will take up to 14 days to receive the payment, standard mailing time. No action is needed on your part to ensure the payment will be re-issued.

Once reprocessed, these payments will be automatically mailed to the most current address on file.  This could be the address identified on a 2019 or 2018 tax return, or the address on file with the U.S Postal Service.  Get My Payment tool will update accordingly. However, until the IRS processes the returned payment there may be a short period where Get My Payment may still indicate the original payment date and direct deposit status.

In mid-April, some taxpayers may have seen an erroneous message when checking Get My Payment, which indicated the Economic Impact Payment was being deposited to the same taxpayer account a second time.   The IRS quickly corrected this reporting error as of Tuesday, April 21 to reflect that the taxpayer’s payment was actually mailed and not rerouted.

You are eligible for an Economic Impact Payment (EIP), but we do not have your direct deposit information to send your payment electronically. You should provide your bank information once you have properly verified your identity. Make sure the routing number, account number, and account type are correct. You can find this information on one of your checks, through your online banking applications or by contacting your financial institution directly. Direct deposit is the fastest way to get your EIP.

If you choose not to provide your bank information or prefer to receive your EIP by mail, your payment will be sent to the address we have on file for you.

You can select either “I received a refund” or “I owed money” and enter 0 for the “Refund Amount or Amount You Owed.”

If you requested that all or part of your refund be applied toward your estimated tax, you should enter the total amount of your refund from line 21a of your 2019 tax return (or line 20a of your 2018 tax return if your 2019 return has not been filed or processed).  For example, if your overpayment was $1,200 and you applied $500 to estimated taxes, you would enter 700 for the refund amount.  If you applied all of your refund to your estimated taxes, you should enter 0.

Enter your Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) with a minus sign. For example, enter -2492. Do not use a dollar sign or other characters.

Your account has been locked for 24 hours. This occurred because:

• Information you entered does not match our records – for security reasons we limit each user to three failed attempts per 24-hour period; or
• You have already accessed the system the maximum number of times within 24 hours – we limit each user to five logins per day to manage system capacity.

You will able to access the application after 24 hours have passed. Do not contact the IRS for assistance with a lockout. The lockout will only release when the 24 hours has passed.

To use Get My Payment, you must first verify your identity by answering security questions. If the information you enter does not match our records multiple times, you will be locked out of Get My Payment for 24 hours for security reasons. If you are unable to verify your identity, you will not be able to use Get My Payment. No action is needed to contact the IRS.

If you verified your identity and received “Payment Status Not Available,” this means we cannot determine your eligibility for a payment at this time. This may occur for a variety of reasons, for example, if you didn’t file either a 2018 or 2019 tax return or you recently filed and the return has not been fully processed.

No. Where’s My Refund and View Your Account will not provide the status of your payment. Get My Payment is the only option available to get your payment status. If it is not available at the time you access it, you will need to try again later.

There are two places where you might get an error when entering your information.

Verifying Your Identity

If the information you enter does not match our records, you will receive an error message. To avoid this:

• Double-check what the application requested.
• Make sure what you enter is accurate.
• Try entering your street address in a different way (for example: 123 N Main St instead of 123 North Main St.). 
• Use the US Postal Service’s ZIP Lookup tool to look up the standard version of your address, and enter it into Get My Payment exactly as it appears on file with the Postal Service.

Entering Your Bank Information

If you receive an error when entering your Adjusted Gross Income (AGI), refund amount, or amount you owed:

• Double-check that you are entering the numbers exactly as they appear on your Form 1040 as originally filed.
• If the numbers from your 2019 tax return are not accepted, try the numbers from your 2018 tax return.

Note: If you enter information that does not match our records 3 times within 24 hours, you will be locked out of Get My Payment for security reasons. You will be able to access the application again after 24 hours. Do not contact the IRS for assistance for a lockout. The lock out will only release when the 24 hours has passed.

No. Get My Payment will not allow you to change your address. To change your address:

• If you have not filed your 2019 tax return, enter your new address on your return when you file. We update our records when your return is processed. File electronically to ensure your return will be processed more quickly.
• If you have filed your 2019 tax return and you did not receive a refund via direct deposit, your payment will be mailed to the address we have on file for you. This is generally the address on your most recent return or as updated through the United States Postal Service (USPS).

If you are required to file a tax return, you can go to IRS Free File to file your return electronically.

If you are not required to file, go to our IRS Non-Filers: Enter Your Payment Info Here application to electronically submit your information to receive the Economic Impact Payment (EIP).

Note: Due to our efforts to protect IRS employees, taxpayers and our stakeholders, extremely limited services are currently available. The IRS is unable to process paper tax returns, respond to paper correspondence or staff toll-free live service lines. Please use all electronic options available to you on IRS.gov or through your tax software provider.