Current Status of Delivery of Stimulous Payments to US Expatriates and Others

Read about the latest news on your Covid stimulous checks, the problems, how to resolve problems, how to enter your bank account number so you can have it deposited directly in your US bank account, etc. HERE FROM YAHOO NEWS 

Yes as an expat living abroad you can get this stimulous payment if you qualify.  Good luck. It may take many months to resolve all problems and for your payments to arrive. Most who have filed their 2019 return and included their US bank account number have already received their stimulous payment.  And yes, if you get the check it will included Donald Trumps name in the memo line.

Status on Covid Stimulous Payments As of Today

Note that all US tax filings normally due on April 15 or June 15 have been automatically extended to July 15 by the government.  No extension form was or is required.  FBAR filings are automatically extended to October 15.

You may be asking about your stimulus payment.  If so, you can check the status at https://www.irs.gov/coronavirus/get-my-payment and click on "Get My Payment".

We are finding that some clients who are indeed eligible for a stimulus are receiving this message when they go on the website: 

Payment Status Not Available

Acccording to information that we have on file, we cannot determine your eligibility for a payment at this time.

However, this does not mean you are ineligible for the stimulus payment.  It also does not mean you will not shortly be receiving a stimulus payment. 

We are finding that those who are in the following categories (who qualify for the stimulus) are receiving the above message - those who

-are qualifying based on their 2018 filing,

-have negative income in 2018 or 2019,

-filed their 2019 return after April 3,

-haven't received a direct deposit from the IRS before; and

-those who use a foreign address.

We expect that within a few days (perhaps by Friday) that this will have changed for those who indeed qualify, and you may receive more information.  It is expected that some payments will be released in a second or third wave of payments and/or paper checks by the government later this month.

The IRS system is supposed to allow the input of direct deposit information for those who have not utilized direct deposited in the past.  That functionality does not appear to be available yet on the IRS website.  Keep checking as the website is a work in progress.