Many of you reading my article My Economic Stimulus Check Didn’t Arrive When Promised are saying that you did receive your Economic Stimulus check, but it didn’t include the $300 per child at all, or it didn’t give you $300 for every child you have.
The IRS has now acknowledged that this is in fact a “systemic” error, meaning it a problem with the way the affected returns were processed, and that it affects many taxpayers.
The IRS says the problem occurs when taxpayers complete their return incorrectly or a glitch in some tax software programs.
The IRS frequently asked questions page has been updated with this news:
Q. I received my stimulus payment and it didn’t include money for my kids. Does the IRS plan to send me an additional check?
A: Yes. The Internal Revenue Service will mail out approximately 350,000 additional economic stimulus payments starting in early July after discovering that some tax returns were improperly filed and did not capture the information needed to generate the $300 in qualifying child payments.
In some instances, taxpayers did not check the proper box to trigger the $300 child payment. In other instances, a few tax software products primarily used by tax professionals did not capture the proper information needed for issuing the child stimulus payment.
To fix the problem, the IRS is taking extra steps to identify the affected taxpayers and send them separate checks to cover their qualifying children. The IRS emphasized that the corrected checks will be mailed automatically, and taxpayers don’t need to call or take any additional steps.
The vast majority of tax returns with child payments were completed accurately by taxpayers, tax professionals and software providers. The IRS estimates that more than 99 percent of nearly 36 million returns eligible for child stimulus payments were filled out accurately by taxpayers, meaning that less than 1 percent will need the additional check mail-outs.
The additional payments involving qualifying children will be made starting in early July. These payments will be made by paper check, even if people received their regular tax refund or initial stimulus payment by direct deposit.
Taxpayers in this situation received — or will receive in the next few weeks — stimulus payments falling $300 short per eligible child.
The additional checks will be mailed as the regular weekly round of stimulus payments wrap up in early July. The regular stimulus payment timetable will not be affected by these additional checks.
The issue with the child payments involves the Child Tax Credit checkbox on line 6c, column (4) on Form 1040 and Form 1040A.
For the stimulus payments, IRS systems look for information in the checkbox area to generate the $300 qualifying child stimulus payment. In instances involving paper returns, taxpayers did not check this box when completing their return. In some instances, tax software may not have checked this box, meaning the $300 payment was not triggered.
The IRS has worked closely with the two affected software vendors on this. The IRS appreciates the willingness of these firms to help identify the problem. They have reported to the IRS that their software has been corrected.
The majority of the tax software issues involve commercial versions used by tax professionals and tax preparers. Included are Petz Enterprises’ professional and on-line software as well as ProSystems fx Tax software and on-line CompleteTax software from CCH.
Taxpayers with questions about whether they are affected can contact their tax preparer or software provider.
For taxpayers who haven’t filed a tax return yet, the IRS urges them to update their tax software before filing to ensure proper handling of their economic stimulus payment. Paper filers should make sure to review the eligibility requirements for qualifying children and check the box on line 6c, column (4) if appropriate.
So, there’s an answer for you. I hope your check arrives quickly!
And in other IRS snafu news, Apparently the IRS may have deposited your payment into someone else’s account. Sorry, but if you got someone else’s payment you do not get to keep it. You should contact the IRS immediately.
They make lots of other errors, too.
The IRS has gotten the vast, vast majority of checks to people when they’re supposed to get there. If you’re not one of that vast, vast majority, though, that’s no comfort, is it?
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Update 6.16.2008 – The IRS knows it messed up on the kids. They’re sending out more checks. Click here for more info!
Are You Going To Be This Way The Rest of The Time I Know You? 
May 18, 2008 at 3:40 pm
[…] Didn’t get the amount you were supposed to get for your kids? Click here for info! […]
May 18, 2008 at 5:46 pm
Yeah we would be one of those people. Grrrrrr But I think its a deal on our banks side, not necessarily on the side of the IRS, since we have closed the one checking account, but we were told that they (the bank) would automatically move any deposits from the old deposit account into the account that we kept, but have found that not to be true (like with DH’s paycheck.) Its not been a good week.
May 19, 2008 at 8:39 am
My payment was to be received May 9 by direct deposit. It’s May 19, and I’ve still received nothing. I read an article stating the IRS mistakenly deposited some stimulus payments into the wrong bank accounts. I’m praying that’s not what has happened to me. I have private school to pay for!
May 19, 2008 at 11:37 am
My check was supposed to be deposited on the16th, but was not and because of the high call volume there is no one to talk to about the situation.
May 19, 2008 at 10:46 pm
I was to recieve my check May 16th and low and behond Its not there.. Is mine one that someone else is spendin as im typin this now? Id hope not.
May 20, 2008 at 11:59 pm
We were one of the families not getting the $300 for our child. It was neither a software problem, nor human error on our part (the box was checked). The IRS is misleading the public. It was their error!
May 21, 2008 at 6:33 am
[…] My Economic Stimulus Check Didn’t Include Money for My Kids! posted at Are You Going To Be This Way The Rest of The Time I Know You? — Did the IRS made a mistake on your economic stimulus rebate? You’re not alone. […]
May 21, 2008 at 11:56 am
Thank you so much for the information. I ‘googled’ in my question and came right to your site. The IRS missed one of my two kids. I file EIC and received credit for both children, so I think the error is on their part. It’s all good if they are working on correcting it.
May 27, 2008 at 10:23 am
I did my return thru H&R I received my fed/state direct deposit, This is Just another Game the Government Likes to play with people who depend on these checks. Notice that the IRS perfectly sent back everyones STATE/FED no problem Right! You did not receive your Stimulus Check because the longer the IRS Holds onto It to get more Interest on your money. but you don’t get that interest and the IRS doesn’t Get that Interest So who does, STart Looking at who Signs the Check! But If you were late paying your taxes Interest starts to build up April 15th, This Just Isn’t Fair. So I want interest on my money starting from May 1, 2008 it’s only fair!
May 28, 2008 at 9:13 pm
i received my letter saying i should have received my check by 5/2/08,the website says it should have been sent by 5/16/08,well it’s 5/28/08 and still no check,i filed my taxes in February so i know thats not a problem
June 2, 2008 at 2:41 pm
I also did everything by the book and was shorted $600 for two children. I was successful after many attempts, in reaching the IRS this morning by phone at 800-829-1040. (Don’t even bother with the Economic Stimulus 866 number — you can’t get through– and don’t select Economic Stimulus in the 800-829-1040 voice-mail menu, either–just ask about your tax account with the IRS and hold.) Here’s the scoop for anyone with more than 4 dependents: THEY ONLY ENTER THE FIRST FOUR in their system! So, if you have six kids, for example, and you listed them in birth order on your 2007 tax return, and the first three are not qualifying for the child tax credit, and the last three are, then they will list you as having ONE (1) qualifying child for the Economic Stimulus Payment, not the THREE you’re qualified for. They erroneously cut it off at four, so the last two kids simply never get entered in their system. The agent had to manually enter the last two qualifying children for me over the phone (fortunately, she had access to the Economic Stimulus payment system), and said I should get my missing $600 in three weeks or so. IF you have more than four kids and you listed them with the *youngest* first, and the first four included all those that had boxes in column 4 checked as qualifying for the Child Tax Credit, you shouldn’t have this problem. It’s just when you had qualifying children listed after the 4th slot that they entered in their system that you get shorted. Why they stopped at 4, I have no idea, as it will probably burn lots of large families, and I confirmed with the IRS, this particular situation will NOT be caught or automatically corrected. You must call and get it corrected yourself, or be out the money. If you have more than 4 dependents and your payment does not match what the Stimulus Calculator says you should have received, I encourage you to contact the IRS– have your 2007 Tax return with SS#’s ready when you call.
June 5, 2008 at 4:07 pm
You might want to wait it out if you haven’t received the check for your children. Unless you have many children like JB. After several calls to the IRS and one return phone call and another promised unreturned phone call and a couple hours on hold, I finally found out that the reason I didn’t get the stimulus rebate for my child was because I didn’t check box #4 after his name and information on my tax return. (I did the return online and didn’t have the instruction book and was so used to not checking this box in the past.) So, there you go folks, check that little box next time. So you think we might get another stimulus check to help us with gas prices? I have to say that I did look at box #4 again after the IRS rep said that was the problem and I still wouldn’t have checked it because it was not clear to me that this was the actual stimulus rebate and I was not used to checking the box in the past for the child credit. And this was after all the “online reading” I did at the IRS site to educate myself on the stimulus rebate. I’ve learned that the next time anything happens like this, I’m simply not going to get hyped up trying to figure things out, I’m going to sit back and do something fun. I’ll do my taxes when it’s time and to the best of my ability. Oh, I also won’t count “my chickens in the basket until they hatch.” That will save a lot of headaches when I’m shorted $300. Good luck all, I think it will all work out in the end . . .
June 6, 2008 at 1:20 pm
I got shafted $600 also
June 10, 2008 at 2:01 pm
I filed via the IRS website online with my tax man and we requested electronic transfer. The IRS website stated that I was to allow at least 2 weeks from May 16th to receive stimulus check. IRS website also stated that there was no available information to provide me about when the check would be received. I still have no stimulus check for me and the 2 dependents claimed and still no letter that some say they have gotten. Since filing my taxes back in February my father has died which was in April the drive from FL to OH cost me 350.xx one way in gas!!! I had no other way to travel since there were 3 adults and 4 children and that was leaving 3 adults and 5 children behind who couldn’t mourn the loss of their beloved step father / grandfather. A gallon of milk is now 4.29 a gallon of gas 3.93 Just keep in mind to all those 3+ million people who not only chose to elect this man but, they further chose to re-elect this man and his administration. No matter what President Bill Clinton did in his “personal” life… he never screwed the American people we never needed stimulus checks when he was in office…things that make you go … HMMMMM
June 18, 2008 at 10:20 am
I received my stimulus payment for myself $300 but nothing for my 3 children… Called they said my kids ssn were not on the form. I claimed and received tax rebate already… Not sure whats going on. I guess I can’t do anything until next year…
June 19, 2008 at 6:12 am
We filed 2 adults and 6 children with 5 qualifying for the stimulus payment. The letter we got 2 days ago from the IRS says that only one adult and two children will be paid by the stimulus payment. That’s a huge difference from the 2 adults 5 children the Stimulus calculator says qualify. We’ve spent hours online and on the phone trying to deal with this and as yet have managed no human contact. We continue the process today.
June 25, 2008 at 9:35 am
Recently I checked the IRS web site and Phone information system to determine the status of our Stimulus check. The recording and information provided indicated that my wife and I were not eligible for the check due to our income. However we are well within the eligibility requirements to recieve a Stimulus Check. There is no avenue to address this problem and it is not addressed in the FAQs provided by the IRS. The only avenue I see to address this problem is to physically go to the IRS office.
July 4, 2008 at 11:30 pm
i’m on disibility, my check was due on june 13, i have not gotten a letter are a check
July 7, 2008 at 3:45 pm
Kimber, do you really think that this President or any past president is sitting at his desk hiding your check? I received my check on time as was scheduled by SS#. My son did not receive the $300 for his child, but I have read the explaination on several sites. I am very unhappy with the economy today, but party politics is a very strange controller of rational thinking. Hang in there and inform all of us when your check arrives.
July 8, 2008 at 9:10 pm
Today I received my stimulus payment notice, not having all the dependents recognized. I had completed the “Additional Dependents Statement” and the qualifying child box was checked. Looks lite the IRS error was that this form was not looked at.
July 12, 2008 at 6:45 pm
I HAVE NOT RECIEVED ANYLETTER that many seemed to have gotten and the irs site page shows no info, I’m sure glad I’m counting on this check to pay bills!! I’m sure they could send a letter if I forgot to pay them. Man the gov. stinks!
July 17, 2008 at 1:17 pm
I received a number of letters indicating the stimulus check, when i got it, it didnt have either child listed, just the spouse and I. Checking online I found there was an error with the IRS.
Unfortunatly here it is July 17th, no check, not letter no nothing. Not holding my breath that I will ever see the 600.
July 23, 2008 at 7:47 am
I did not get my 4th child’s either. I am letting my accountant take care of it. The problem I am having is we adopted him, he was our foster child. We changed his name, but his SS# staid the same, stupid. Anyway, I took down his adoption papers and new birth certificate twice now to SSI. The last two years I had to be reimbursed from the IRS for him on our taxes. Yet, after being on the phone for hours about this a few weeks back about this, I would rather chew glass then stay on hold for another hour. I paid the accountant let him do it!!
I read somewhere that they are going to do a second stimulus check. I doubt they will pass it!!!
July 28, 2008 at 7:40 pm
I must have forgotten to click the inappropriate box too. I’m still waiting for the $300 check for my kid. My daughter is going to buy me a new fishing pole!!!
July 29, 2008 at 6:00 am
If these checks were supposed to be mailed out at the beginngin of July…WHERE ARE THEY???
August 8, 2008 at 2:32 pm
I really enjoyed your blog. It is full of very usefull information and is wrtten in a style that is easy to understand and follow. Please don’t take me as being rude or anything like that, but We are trying to raise as many names for a petition to send to Washington to try and get the Social Security Checks paid to the disabled raised so that they can have enough money to at least make it through the month instead of just the day the check comes in. We would really appreciate it if you could take the time to check out the site and if you are led to fill out the comment section at the bottom of the home page and leave a message of your thoughts on how our Government is treating the disabled of this country. Your information will be safe for it will be printed out along with all the others and sent to Washington to try and get them off their haunches and do something to help our disabled as they sure throw BILLIONS of dollars to the immigrants every year using OUR tax money, so, we want to try and get some of that money sent to our own people that can not get out and work to earn for themselves. Thank you in advance and may God Bless you!