Have you recently moved out of your house? This could result in delivery delays with your stimulus check payments and tax benefits. Receive your monetary benefits on time by updating both the IRS and USPS with your current address.
Millions of Americans are still waiting out on the money promised by the IRS. Unfortunately, a majority of them have waited over months without an update. One specific reason for the delay is suddenly changing address without notice.
If so, you need to update your recorded profile on both the IRS and USPS. The former needs the information to properly process your allocated budget, while the latter requires it to deliver your paper check or EIP card.
Not doing this update could potentially result in two reasons for payment delays.
2. IRS Delivered Your Money to the Wrong Address
If you failed to update your address, the IRS would deliver your payments to the last known address. Afterward, the IRS would mistakenly confirm having delivered the payment. Complaints on the process will cause a delay as you wait for your payment to get re-routed.
To avoid this, you have to update your records with the IRS. You can do this in two ways:
Change your address by downloading and completing Form 8822. You are required to provide your full name, old and new address, Social Security number, individual taxpayer, and other similar information. You could also process the address change by phone call, but the IRS warned it to require extra identity verification information.
A second process is to use your new address when filing the tax returns. However, this option is limited based on circumstances. Late filers can update their information through the 2020 tax returns, while regular filers must wait for the 2021 tax returns. IRS said it could take four to six weeks to process the change.
1. USPS Delivered Your Money to the Wrong Address
Not all post offices are authorized to forward government checks. Therefore, only the United States Postal Service (USPS) will deliver paper checks or EIP cards.
Similar to the IRS, delivering these documents to the wrong address will cause delays. Fortunately, you can update your new address immediately online. Here are the steps provided by Cnet:
- Visit the website usps.com/move.
- Click "Get Started" on the Official USPS Change-of-Address
- Complete the provided form with your updated information, like your identity, contact number, old and new address. Double-check if the information you provided is accurate and click "Next."
- You will be required to pay $1.05 for changing your mailing address, so the system would request your payment method. Note that prepaid credit or debit cards can't be used.
- After the payment, you will receive an email confirmation of the change of address.
- The postal service will deliver a USPS Confirmation Notification Letter and welcome kit anywhere between three days to two weeks to complete the process.
Related Article: Fourth Stimulus Check: How to Get Child Tax Credit, Other Payments Even Without Permanent Address, Bank Account
