Why the IRS website for checking on your $1,200 relief check might say 'payment status not available' — and what to do about it

• Many Americans said they were not able to see their stimulus payment status on the IRS website, despite meeting the eligibility requirements.
• The agency said in a lengthy FAQ list why that might be the case.
• If you haven't filed 2019 taxes, that's the simplest way to correct any bank account or address errors.
• There is also a form for people who don't usually file taxes to submit their bank information.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

The Internal Revenue Service's rollout of a website for Americans to track the status of their $1,200 economic stimulus payment has been anything but smooth.

The site struggled to keep up with demand overload last week, and some people who were able to get through said they received a perplexing screen that didn't appear to correctly apply to them.

After entering your Social Security Number or Tax ID, birthday, and address, the "get my payment" portal is supposed to provide a payment status. In successful cases, the site will tell someone the bank account number and date the direct deposit was issued.

However, for some, the site instead said "payment status not available" and pointed to an FAQ page which lists several possible reasons for the error.

The FAQ also doesn't list the possibility that a person could make a mistake in typing in their information. Start there, and double check you're using the same address as you did on your most recent tax return (have you moved lately?). If so, and you haven't filed your 2019 taxes yet, that's the simplest way to correct your information. There are also options for those who do not usually file a tax return.

For other issues, the FAQ page is quite lengthy for a tool designed to be as simple as possible.

As of April 15, the IRS said it had processed 6.2 million payments while seeking to refute claims that the tool had malfunctioned during the initial roll out.

"The IRS reminds taxpayers that Get My Payment data is updated once per day, so there's no need to check back more frequently," it said.

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