Tax prep customers frustrated over problems getting stimulus money

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- For a number of Americans, including right here in the Delaware Valley, it's the $600 hundred to $1,200 question of the day.

Taxpayers, like Toni Norris of Southwest Philadelphia, who uses tax preparation services like Turbo Tax and H&R Block, are now finding themselves in a holding pattern after learning their stimulus money went into a wrong bank account.

"I'm a single parent. I need that money. I was going to take that money and go ahead and pay my mortgage," said Norris.

Norris, who's been a longtime H&R Block client, said she was told she received her money through the company's propriety Emerald Prepaid MasterCard.

Her issue: the company sent her a new card. The cash sent to the old one, which H&R Block asked her to return.

"It's one delay after the next," she said.

Christopher Quinn of Delaware has encountered a different issue.

SEE ALSO: Stimulus check problems: IRS says some won't get $600 directly, need to claim funds on 2020 tax return

While the IRS is sending out the second round of stimulus payments, some are reporting problems with the money being deposited into a bank account they don't recognize.

"I was scared because I thought like somebody opened an account in my name or I was hacked, and then I went and matched the last four and it matched the number from my 2019 taxes," he said.

Instead of seeing the money deposited into his personal account, Quinn says it went into an H&R Bank.

The company, which has been active on social media providing updates, says the different account numbers may reflect what's called a Refund Transfer.

The purchased program allows customers to pay for things like tax prep and other fees from tax refunds.

Customers with Turbo Tax say they have encountered a similar issue.

"It feels like they rushed it and it was a mistake and now we have to pay for the mistake," said Maria Kelly.

Kelly frustrated that she, like many may now have to claim what the IRS calls a Recovery Rebate Credit on her 2020 Tax Return.

"I'm not going to get anything until at least may be the summertime," she said.

On Twitter, Turbo Tax posing a lengthy explanation stating that relief payments are determined by the IRS, not them, and that based on the speed of which payments were sent out some may have been sent to accounts that were closed or no longer active.

In a statement, the IRS says they have been able to get these payments out in record time, but also stress patience.

To learn more about claiming the Recovery Rebate Credit on your 2020 tax return, CLICK HERE.