The importance of doing it before you file your tax return is that the IRS has not allowed, at least until now, that taxpayers who established direct deposit, change their account information after they sent their tax documents.
The fact that taxpayers have all their times correct, those registered with the Internal Revenue Service, is of the utmost importance, especially in the current times in the United States.
In this sense, it is advisable to do it before the tax returns are filed, since the IRS will take the information that it has on file to send the refunds, but it will also be the one that it uses for the long-awaited third stimulus check, once is approved.
Until now, the IRS has not allowed taxpayers who set up direct deposit to change their bank account information once they have submitted their tax documents.
So the time to do this is before you file your tax return.
“The IRS assumes no responsibility for errors made by taxpayers or tax preparers. Please verify the account and routing numbers with your financial institution and confirm that the numbers you have entered on your return are correct before signing and submitting it”, the IRS warns on its website.
And it adds: “You should not request a deposit of your refund in an account that is not in your own name. The IRS treats account or routing number errors the same for both split refunds and regular direct deposits.”
How to make bank account changes
When you’re filing your tax return, there’s a box you can select, it shows up as Direct Deposit, in the software you’re using.
Next, enter your bank account and routing numbers. You can find your account and routing number on your financial institution’s website when you sign in. They also give it to you at your bank branch.
But, if you have already sent your tax return, but it has not yet been completed in the IRS system, you can request that the information contained as direct deposit be stopped.
Do it by calling toll-free at 800-829-1040, Monday through Friday, from 7:00 am to 7:00 pm.
You should also call the bank to alert the situation, if the financial institution can recover the funds, in case they have already been sent to you, they can return them to the IRS and then the Internal Revenue Service will send you a printed check to the last address you have on record.
If you do not receive a response from the bank, you must file form 3911, Taxpayer Declaration on Refund, to start tracking the money.
If the funds are not available or the bank refuses to return them, the IRS cannot force the bank to do so. The case can then become a civil matter between the taxpayer and the financial institution and/or the owner of the account in which the funds were deposited, explains the Internal Revenue Service.
Direct deposit is currently the most widely used and fastest method of getting your tax refund and stimulus check.
According to the Benefits.gov site, the IRS sent more than 100 million payments corresponding to the second stimulus check and more than 80% of people use this method to receive their tax refunds.