As Trump Pushes For Second $1,200 Stimulus Check, Glitch Keeps Thousands Of TurboTax Users From Getting First Check
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - After shutting down negotiations on a larger stimulus package, President Donald Trump sent out a message on Twitter this week saying he would sign a stand-alone bill for a second $1,200 stimulus check.
Trump wrote, "If I am sent a Stand Alone Bill for Stimulus Checks ($1,200), they will go out to our great people IMMEDIATELY."
However, nearly six months after the first round of stimulus checks were approved, thousands of Texans are still waiting for their payment.
"I waited and waited and it never came," said Caroline Hembree of Lewisville. "It's been totally frustrating. I didn't get my first check so I'm sure I won't get a second."
Hembree is one of an unknown number of taxpayers who did not receive a stimulus check because of a computer glitch that caused a box on their tax return
to be mistakenly checked.
The IRS told the CBS 11 I-Team it is aware of the issue with some who used TurboTax to file their 2019 tax return.
The CBS 11 I-Team discovered when some people filed their taxes, a glitch caused the box for "spouse claimed as a dependent" to be erroneously checked.
What's even more puzzling is why that would prevent someone from getting their stimulus check. A person cannot get a stimulus check if they are claimed as a dependent by someone else, but the box checked is not about the person. It's about their spouse.
In a statement the IRS told the I-Team, "We are aware of the issue and working with (TurboTax) to determine the next steps to resolve this issue for this small number of impacted taxpayers. We expect more information will be available in the near future."
Online messages boards are filled with hundreds of people reporting the same issue.
Hembree said for months she was unable to get through to the IRS. It was only after she saw on the news a story about the computer glitch that she realized the same thing was preventing her from getting her check.
The IRS says those who experienced this glitch will have to claim their stimulus payment next year when they file their 2020 taxes.
"I don't understand how (the IRS) can send a stimulus check to people that are deceased but you can't send it to people that are living," Hembree said. "For some people this could actually put them in a bind and that's horrible."
Meanwhile, as some wait on their first check, both political parties appear to support a second round of checks but experts say seeing them before the election seems unlikely.
However, if a bill for a stimulus check quickly makes it through the House and Senate after the election, payments could go out through direct deposit as early as Dec. 7.
