Intercepting Economic Impact Payments
The U.S. federal government is now in the process of sending Economic Impact Payments by direct deposit to millions of Americans. Most who are eligible for payments can expect to have funds direct-deposited into the same bank accounts listed on previous years’ tax filings sometime next week. Today, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) stood up a site to collect bank account information from the many Americans who don’t usually file a tax return.
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However, the possibility that fraudsters may intercept payments to these individuals seems very real, given the relatively lax identification requirements of this non-filer portal and the high incidence of tax refund fraud in years past.
It sounds like the only defense is to register yourself first.
Previously:
> Today, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) stood up a site to collect bank account information from the many Americans who don’t usually file a tax return.
Just for clarity, the linked article is from April 10 and is discussing the option for non-filers to use Free File Fillable Forms to provide a few bits of info that behind the scenes files a minimal 1040 tax return for the sole purpose of providing direct deposit info. It is not about the Get My Payment tool that IRS launched today, April 15, which allows anyone who files but doesn't get direct deposit refunds to provide direct deposit information directly to IRS.
That said, calling Free File Fillable Forms a site that "IRS stood up" is dangerously wrong. It is IRS' endorsed solution for nonfilers, but it is definitely not a website run by the government.
And OFC Intuit is behind it, which you only find out if you read the privacy policy. Not even the terms of service mention Intuit. Previously in Intuit-land: https://www.propublica.org/series/the-turbotax-trap