By Staff
Special to The Advance
The Internal Revenue Service is looking for Alabama taxpayers who are missing more than 5,300 economic stimulus checks totaling about $3 million and nearly 1,500 regular refund checks totaling more than $1.56 million that were returned by the U.S. Postal Service due to mailing address errors.
Included in the undelivered payments are 48 checks for people who live or did live in Escambia County. Forty-two of those checks are Economic Stimulus Payments worth a total of more than $25,000.
It is crucial that taxpayers who may be due a stimulus check update their addresses with the IRS by Nov. 28, 2008. By law, economic stimulus checks must be sent out by Dec. 31 of this year. The undeliverable economic stimulus checks average $583.
The “Where’s My Stimulus Payment?" tool on IRS.gov is the quickest and easiest way for a taxpayer to check the status of a stimulus check and receive instructions on how to update his or her address. Taxpayers without internet access should call 1-866-234-2942.
Taxpayers who have regular refunds due can update their addresses with the “Where’s My Refund?” tool on IRS.gov. It enables taxpayers to check the status of their refunds. Taxpayers can access a telephone version of “Where’s My Refund?” by calling 1-800-829-1954.
Taxpayers not sure of which type of check they may be due should check on a potential economic stimulus check first because of the looming deadline.
The IRS encourages taxpayers to choose direct deposit when they file their return because it puts an end to lost, stolen or undeliverable checks. Taxpayers can receive refunds directly into personal checking or savings accounts. Direct deposit is available for filers of both paper and electronic returns.
Below are undelivered check stats and names for Escambia Co.: