ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Today is the day.
You have until noon to put your direct deposit information into the IRS "Get My Payment" tool if you want your stimulus money put directly into your bank accounts instead of waiting on a physical check.
The site does ask for sensitive information like your social security number, address and zip code. Plus if you want the money through direct deposit, they'll need to put in bank account information.
10News reached out to a local consumer attorney to go through the dos and don'ts of this process.
First, when you log onto your computer head to IRS.gov. That is the official website of the Internal Revenue Service.
From there, click the link 'get my payment'. This page is filled with information about the stimulus payments. To find out your payment status or put in account information, click 'get my payment'.
At this point, you will see a page that tells you any information you put in is for authorized use only. Click 'OK.'
The next page is where you will start putting in information. On this page, be aware that the web address line may look a little different, but there's one thing that should stand out, according to attorney Charles Gallagher.
"For the concerns you might have, you're going to see IRS.gov in the middle of that, so they're going to route it to a different server or different place, but you're still going to see IRS.gov in the middle of that search bar to give you assurances that you're not being taken somewhere else that's a third-party fraudulent website. If you're getting there from the IRS website you're probably going to be just fine. You're going to be fine."
He also gave some advice on what not to do:
- Do not use third party websites to access the IRS Get My Payment Tool.
- Do not use commercial services for IRS Get My Payment Tool.
- If contacted by a third-party to get stimulus check early for "small processing fee" don't communicate with them.
- Do not click hyperlinks from email solicitations from any party offering assistance to get your stimulus payment.
If you're still uncomfortable putting your information into a website, that's okay. You will just need some patience waiting on a paper check in the mail. Those will be mailed out soon and getting to mailboxes by the end of the month and into June.
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