The IRS began issuing direct deposits of these payments on December 29 and says that up to 100 million have already been completed.
But, according to Intuit TurboTax to spokeswoman Ashley McMahon, “millions of payments have been sent to the wrong accounts and some may not have received their stimulus payments.”
About 13 million people may have been affected, according to a source in the banking sector.
The people most likely to be affected are those who have used early repayment loans or similar products. In such cases, their stimulus payments may have been directed to the temporary bank account established by the online tax preparation company they used when their 2019 tax return was filed.
It may also have affected some people who changed their bank last year, and the IRS does not yet have their new registered checking account.
Earlier this week, the IRS attributed the error to the speed with which the new law required the agency to issue the second round of Economic Impact Payments.
“Stimulus payments will begin to be deposited on January 8 for millions of our customers affected by the IRS error,” wrote the company on its blog. “We expect that most of these payments will be available that day, but banks may take a few business days to process.”
TurboTax said it will send an email to customers when their payments are deposited.