PHOENIX — A lot of you still don't have your stimulus money. And you still can't get answers about where it may be or if it's even coming.
But at the same time, deceased Arizonans ARE getting stimulus checks!
Doug Erickson is one of nearly a dozen people over the last few weeks, who let me know their deceased parents or siblings received checks. Doug's dad died two years ago. He says, "I couldn't believe they're sending a check to dead people."
He and others wrote me because they couldn't get any answers from the Internal Revenue Service or Treasury Department.
This week, the IRS did provide some information about what to do.
On it's website, they say if a deceased person received a check, write VOID on it.
If the money came through direct deposit, write a check made out to US Treasury for the amount.
And then return them to:
Fresno Internal Revenue Service
5045 E Butler Avenue
Fresno, CA 93888
Click here to see more of the instructions.
But, I could not get an answer on a different issue. Doug showed the check that his deceased father received.
The letters DECD are printed right after his name. Doug wondered if that meant deceased?
If so, could the government knowingly be sending these checks to deceased people?
I asked the IRS.
They said it was a question for the US Treasury. So I asked the Treasury Department.. twice and got no response.
For the rest of you, the IRS says it improved its GET MY PAYMENT information part of its website.
And when I asked four people to test the improvements, two did say they were able to finally get information. The other two say there was nothing new.
I asked the US Treasury Department to explain why deceased people are getting checks and others cannot get information.
We'll keep working to get an answer!
