There is something especially frustrating when you are waiting for money from the Government: checking the mail over and over again and discovering that the check never arrived. If the Internal Revenue Service has already issued your refund and the check was lost, stolen, or simply disappeared, that doesn’t necessarily mean you lost that money. The Internal Revenue Service has a procedure to track the payment and, depending on what happened, issue a replacement.
The key is not to wait indefinitely. You have to start the claim.
What can you do if you lost a government check?
If it concerns an IRS refund check, you can request a payment trace. The process helps determine what happened to the money and whether the check was cashed.
Before you begin, the IRS recommends checking the status of your refund using its official tool “Where’s My Refund?”. You can also review your online account. The agency notes that you should confirm that the normal processing time has passed before initiating the trace.
If the system indicates that your refund was issued but you never received the check, that’s where the next step begins.
How to ask for the IRS to resend the check?
The procedure changes depending on your filing status for tax purposes.
If you filed a return as single, married filing separately, or head of household, you can start the trace from “Where’s My Refund?” or through the IRS app. You can also call 800-829-1954.
If you filed a joint return as married, the IRS indicates that you should contact the agency at 800-829-1040 or complete Form 3911, known as the Taxpayer Statement Regarding Refund.
It is a little-known procedure and precisely for that reason it can be easy to give up too soon. If the Government has already issued the money, it’s worth investigating what happened before assuming that it disappeared.
What happens if the lost check was never cashed?
Here is the part that may bring you some peace of mind.
If the IRS determines that the check was not cashed, the agency can cancel it and issue a new refund. According to current IRS information, a replacement check can take about four weeks after it is issued.
The procedure also covers checks that are more than a year old. In those cases, the IRS may issue another check accompanied by a CP32 notice. If it cannot reissue it directly, it will send a CP32A notice with instructions to request the replacement.
What if someone else already cashed your check?
The situation changes quite a bit.
If the trace shows that the check was cashed, the case moves to the Bureau of the Fiscal Service. This office can send you a claim package along with a copy of the cashed check.
You will need to complete the documentation and return it for review. The IRS warns that this investigation can take up to six weeks. If it’s determined that the check was forged, a replacement may be issued.
In other words, don’t confuse two situations: losing the check is not the same as finding out that someone else cashed it.
Can you receive the replacement check via direct deposit?
Not always.
In IRS replacement notices, the agency notes that replacement checks are mailed. You cannot simply request that that replacement come via direct deposit.
Additionally, the check is mailed to the address on file on your tax return or the address you updated subsequently. Therefore, if you have moved, reviewing your postal information is also important.
What should you have on hand to claim your money?
Before contacting the IRS, prepare:
The IRS uses this information to verify your identity and locate the payment.
If your government check disappeared, the most common reaction is to think the money is gone as well. Not necessarily. In the case of IRS refunds there is a specific procedure to trace the payment, cancel a lost check, and, when appropriate, issue another.
The difference between letting the problem slide and getting the money back can lie in a procedure that many people don’t even know exists.
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