Have you been receiving the “Payment Status Not Available” error message when trying to find out from the IRS where the heck your coronavirus stimulus check is?dit ba gia lon to
The IRS launched a website to check on the status of your stimulus check earlier this month to help update taxpayers. Many people who flocked the IRS website, however, were met with the error message, leaving them with no answer to why they hadn’t received their $1,200.
If that sounds familiar, we may have a fix: Hit caps lock.
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Some Twitter users have discovered that if they type in their street address in ALL CAPS, the site works.
Mashable’s own Sasha Lekachhad been receiving the “Payment Status Not Available” message on the IRS website. After trying the ALL CAPS trick for the street address input, the IRS website finally informed her of the status of her stimulus money. She had not made any changes or updates with the IRS in the interim.
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Lack of a recent tax filing or direct deposit information was a common issue among taxpayers who had not received their stimulus check — but the site doesn't inform you of that, due to the error message.
The IRS announcedthat major fixes to the site were rolled out over the past weekend. (I was unable to personally test out the ALL CAPS fix. After weeks of receiving the error message, the IRS website updated me on the check’s status, likely because within that time I filed my 2019 taxes.)
Despite the IRS website updates, some are still receiving the error message until retyping their street address in ALL CAPS. Furthermore, there are users claiming they still can't access their check's status, even with the ALL CAPS workaround.
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Government systems across the country have been plagued with issues as they are bombarded by users during the pandemic. Some states announcedthat they were desperately in need of programmers versed in COBOL. This early programming language is in demand not only due to the number of essential systems running on it, but also because many of those who know it are of retirement age. The IRS’s systems also run on the antiquated programming language.
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Mashable confirmed the possibility of uppercase and lowercase letters causing an issue with a system like this via three independent programmers with varying years of experience using COBOL.
The ALL CAPS issue was described by one programmer as “a very common bug in systems that haven't been thoroughly tested” and the product of a system that was “put together very hastily” in any computer language and not unique to COBOL.
There’s anotherunconfirmed fix that involves how words like “Street” and “Avenue" appear on the IRS form that appears to be working for some people: Try abbreviating.
Millions of Americans still have not receivedtheir stimulus check under the $2.2 trillion CARES Act from the IRS during the coronavirus pandemic. Meanwhile, some 26 million people have now filed for unemployment due to pandemic-related shutdowns in the states.
As of today, there's an IRS website update and two weird tricks to help you find out where your stimulus money is. Filing your 2019 tax returns could fix the issue, too, if you haven't already done that. See if any of them work for you.
Topics Politics COVID-19