25 Investigates: Stimulus checks sent to dead people while other families desperately wait for theirs

BOSTON — Since 25 Investigates first told you about the IRS mistakenly sending checks to the deceased, we heard from more viewers saying they too got checks for deceased family members.

“My mom, a childhood Holocaust survivor, passed in June; it will be two years this coming June,” said Bonnie Brown of Methuen. “All of a sudden, I get this stimulus check the other day. It’s got my name on it and hers with ‘DECD’ for deceased next to hers, but at my home address.”

Brown says that the $1,200 stimulus check was meant for her late mother.

“One, it opens up a wound again, that’s hard,” Brown said. “But the hardest part is recognizing how many people are waiting so desperately for stimulus checks and here I get this which seems so unfair.”

Brown contacted 25 Investigates after seeing our story with Mary Connaughton of Framingham.

“As I understand it, there’s a lot of people that still haven’t received their stimulus checks that could be benefiting greatly by these,” said Connaughton. “So, the question is how many went out, is it going to returned.”

Connaughton, who happens to be the director of government transparency at the Pioneer Institute, showed us the letter saying her late mother received a $1,200 direct deposit. Then, she received a stimulus check for her late father.

Federal government mistakenly sent stimulus checks to Americans who have died 25 Investigates has learned the federal government mistakenly sent stimulus checks to Americans who have died.

Nina Olson is the director of the non-profit Center for Taxpayer Rights, in Washington D.C. She’s also the former national taxpayer advocate. She says, in this dire economy, the administration and hence the IRS opted to get checks out quickly rather than perfectly, looking at historical data like tax returns from 2018, and 2019, instead of current information.

“Congress didn’t write into the law, ‘Don’t give it to deceased people if you know it’s a deceased person,’” said Olson. “And, it could have written that into the law, and it should it have. If you’re going to say we’re going to get this money out in three weeks, even before the laws passed, you know, the IRS is working with 1960s technology, and you know, that stuff doesn’t move quickly. And it is a miracle that they got as many payments as they did out. And, that’s not to make that doesn’t make it any better for the people who are desperately waiting for their money.”

Olson says similar mistakes happened during the 2008 recession and clearly lessons weren’t learned.

“It’s weighing against getting money out there to as many people as possible, and it will be imperfect," said Olson. "But then the key is, don’t put it on the people who have been innocently sitting there, you know, and don’t make them feel like they’re a criminal. And I’m not sure that they do have the obligation to pay it back. The IRS has said there isn’t an obligation, you know, under the law.”

While Olson says there’s no apparent legal obligation to pay it back, this week, the IRS issued instructions for heirs to return the stimulus money.

“How disorganized our government is if they’re going to be sending checks to deceased people,” said Brown.

A 2010 audit by the office of the inspector general showed more than half of the 71,000 people who got stimulus checks for deceased relatives did pay that money back.

Both women who spoke to Boston 25 News said they are sending back the money.

Detailed instructions on how to return the payment, along with the address to send it to, can be found on the IRS website.

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