ABA and six other financial trade groups last Thursday requested that the Internal Revenue Service improve its Get My Payment website to provide more accurate and timely information about the status of economic impact payments. In a letter to the IRS, the groups called for timely updates to the database that would allow, for example, a recipient to know as soon as possible if his or her ACH payment was returned and reissued as a paper check. The groups also requested that the website accept bank routing information from payment recipients again to reduce reliance on paper checks.

To improve the payment process, the groups also asked that the site include a notice informing recipients that financial institutions do not have access to recipient information and that the information provided on the site may be inaccurate due to delays in updating accurate status of the payment.

The groups also asked the IRS to stress to financial institutions the importance of following guidance about payments inadvertently made to tax preparer accounts. They noted that when these payments are forwarded to the ultimate bank recipient by check and ACH funds may not be protected from garnishment, because there is no standard to identify these forwarded payments. Read the letter.