If you're still waiting on your economic stimulus check from the government, you're not alone.
Lots of other people are in the same boat.
What do they have in common? Many also had their tax-preparer pay them their tax refund on the spot, and that could be the problem.
Jamie Duarte and his wife know why their stimulus check hasn't arrived yet.. they haven't filed their taxes.
They're less sure of the reasons their sons didn't get theirs.
”Just red tape and the system being overloaded,” he said.
Turns out, that's just part of it. Lots of people who opted for so-called "instant tax refunds," and now, they're still waiting.
Accountant Mike Lucas says, it's because tax preparers structure those refunds like loans, and guess who gets paid back first?
”When they go get the refund anticipation loan they get the money right then and there, but the refund actually comes to a separate bank account of the company that actually did it,” said Lucas, of the Patillo Brown & Hill Certified Public Accounting firm.
And when IRS sent out stimulus money through direct deposit, guess where it went? The tax preparer, because the IRS never had the taxpayer's bank information in the first place.
Now, the two have a big ol' mess to clean up.
”They're working with the companies, going and pulling that money back and trying to route it to the taxpayer,” said Lucas.
That is, IF the IRS knows where to find them.
Then, there are commercial sites that let you apply for, or check on your stimulus money, but they often try to "up-sell" us, to get us to spend some of that cash with them.
So Jamie Duarte has advice for those of us tempted to take the quick buck, instead of waiting patiently on Uncle Sam.
”They push all this stuff, you know? They're pushing it, they're pushing it. If you can, if it's only a month, hold off, hold off,” he explained.
In the meantime, make sure the IRS knows how to find you, and give it the banking information it needs, through www.irs.gov.
The other option? Wait for the government to send you a check in the mail. But that could take as long as 5 months, and nobody’s offering advance loans on that money.