Approximately 50,000 “catch-up” economic impact payments will be made to individuals whose portion of the stimulus payment was diverted by the federal government to pay their spouse’s past-due child support by the IRS.
These funds are expected to be sent in early to mid-September and will mailed as checks to any eligible spouse who filed a Form 8379, Injured Spouse Allocation, along with their 2019 federal income tax return, or in some cases, their 2018 return. The IRS will automatically issue the portion of the EIP that was applied to the other spouse’s debt. These individuals do not need to take any further action to receive the extra economic impact payment money.
Under the CARES Act, the IRS deposited or mailed stimulus payments known as economic impact payments of $1,200 to eligible taxpayers, along with an extra $500 per child. However, in some cases the IRS subtracted money from the payments for those who owed child support to their former spouses. The IRS plans to send the money to 50,000 individuals who were owed child support.
The IRS has noted that it is aware that some individuals did not file a Form 8379, Injured Spouse Allocation, and therefore did not receive their part of the EIP for the same reason. The IRS doesn’t yet have a timeframe but plans to automatically issue the part of the EIP that was applied to the other spouse’s debt at a later time. If you are effected by this, you can check the status of their EIP by using the Get My Payment tool, available only on IRS.gov.