Check Your IRS Stimulus Payment Status: Don't Get Hoodwinked Via Email

Because the vast majority of Americans will be getting a sum of money from the government this week to stimulate the economy, there's a danger. The potential for chaos is great, and malicious agents are out in force attempting to trick the average citizen into revealing personal information at the promise of info on said cash. But the IRS has created a simple website with which users can see the status of their stimulus check, and that's where you should go right this minute.

The site sits at the IRS homepage for "Economic Impace Payments." There you'll find two links, one for people that have filed taxes for the past few years. The other link is for people that have not file Federal Income Tax papers for 2018 or 2019.

There's also an official site for Economic Impact Payment Information in general. There you'll find information on who is eligible to receive a payment from the IRS, and whether or not you'll get a payment if you don't normally make enough to have to file an income tax return.

You might need to check the site Do I need to file a tax return? If you've not filed a tax return recently, you very well might need to file a tax return, and there's no better time than the present. The system that'll tell you if you need to file taxes takes approximately 12 minutes to complete – it's simple, and it's exceedingly important, whether or not you plan on paying any time soon. It's important to know the laws to which you as an American citizen are subject.

Take special care whenever reading email from sources you've never seen before. Take special care even if you think you've seen the source before – email accounts can be taken over by malicious actors, and simple switches of single characters in email titles can trick the average user.

If you get an email that leads you to any other website, especially a website without .GOV in the URL, you're probably being tricked. Do not reveal personal and/or banking information to any source that isn't the IRS. Chances are you won't need to reveal anything to anyone, and your check will be deposited into your bank account automatically.

You'll need to look in your bank account for a deposit that says "IRS Treas 312." It might be in your account already, it might have showed up as pending, it might already be ready to roll.