IRS announces May 13 deadline for direct deposit of stimulus checks

If you don’t want to wait for a paper check for your federal stimulus payment, you better get onto the IRS website — and quick. 

On Friday, the U.S. Internal Revenue Service announced a tight deadline of May 13 to receive the stimulus money through direct deposit into your bank account or other payment services like Venmo, PayPal, and the Cash app. So if you still haven’t received a check for up to $1,200 for eligible taxpayers, your window of opportunity for direct deposit is about to close. 

You need to go to the IRS’ stimulus check portal, Get My Payment, to check on your status and make sure to input all of your updated information. Some people already had their bank information automatically filled out from previous tax filings, but be sure to look into your payment status regardless.

After Wednesday afternoon, any undelivered stimulus funds will be filed with the Bureau of Fiscal Services, which is part of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, according to AccountingToday.com. That’s where paper checks will be prepared for delivery to people’s homes starting in late May and continuing into June. 

130 million Americans have already received their payments in the first four weeks after the stimulus money was first distributed. That’s more than $200 billion deposited. 

For those hurriedly trying to add bank information this week, be sure to use the ALL CAPS trick when entering your address on the IRS website.