Like many of you, I have been aggravated while tracking my stimulus with the IRS's online tool. Here's a workaround that will allow you to accurately track your stimulus.

This has been a frustrating week for many Americans, to say the least. Not only is America handing out billions of dollars to big companies and foreign countries while everyday Americans are receiving only $600, but a lot of Americans still haven't received their second stimulus at all.

That alone is the problem everyone should be upset about... Second stimulus in nearly a year. That is beyond absurd to me.

Many Americans are not only dealing with a floating stimulus that is showing no signs of depositing into their accounts, but also have to deal with an equally busted and confusing tracking tool provided by the IRS.

The tool, titled "Where's My Payment" is supposed to give us a good understanding as to where our stimulus is, and when we can expect to receive it.

I've seen countless screenshots of this tool simply not working or leaving the user with more questions than answers. I've seen several screenshots where it states the stimulus has been deposited, but the user has not received it. Or screenshots where the tool tells the user that either they do not have enough information at the time, or the user does not qualify for the second stimulus.

It's bonkers to me that this second wave of stimuluses was not a turn-key situation. Not only have we all gone through this processes, and it's speedbumps before, but also that was nearly a year ago. That's more than enough time, trial, and error, for our system to get their you-know-what together and get money into the hands of struggling Americans.

Luckily for those who have questions and are tired of relying on the broken IRS "Where's My Payment" tool, I have a workaround that will tell you exactly where your stimulus is.

In order to track your stimulus, you must first create an account on the IRS.gov website. This process takes a few minutes, and as long as you have the necessary information to confirm your identity, it's guaranteed to work.

To create an account, go to the IRS homepage and click, "Pay", then click, " View Your Profile". From there, it will ask you to create an account. In order to create your account, you'll need to verify your basic info like name and address. That information must match your most recent tax return. From there, you will also need to provide information to verify your identity. They provide several options to do that, and you only need to select one. For instance, some of those options are "Last Eight Digits of Your Credit Card", or "Student ID Number", or "Auto Loan Account Number". There are others, but those are the three I can remember. I chose to give my Auto Loan Account Number because it was right in front of me, and it worked right away. From there, you'll verify your cell phone number and create your username and password.

Once you have an account created and you are logged in, you can follow the following steps to accurately and quickly track your stimulus from the homepage:

1. Click "Get Your Tax Record".

2. Click "Get Transcript Online".

3. Use the dropdown under "Select a reason you need a transcript", and click "Other". There is a dropdown underneath that says "

4. Click "GO".

5. Under "Account Transcript", click "2020".

6. Towards the bottom of that printable transcript, you will see the status of your second stimulus. It will show if you will be receiving one, and when it will be issued to you.

I hope this helps, it certainly gave me peace of mind earlier today so I thought I would share!

 

 

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