Stimulus Checks Issued to the Living--and Dead
by Penny M. Hagerman
If you've been checking the mail, watching and waiting for your stimulus check to arrive from the government, you're not alone.
As the Social Security Administration began sending out $250 payments to millions of American taxpayers recently as part of an approved $787 billion stimulus package, many people got excited thinking about how to use the extra dough: on groceries, insurance premiums, gas for their cars, or utility or medical bills.
OK, so $250 isn't a lot of money. But for many who have lost their jobs and are living hand-to-mouth wondering how they'll survive from one day to the next, that measly little check could make a great deal of difference—at least for a while.
But as stimulus checks for millions of dollars began flowing into households and bank accounts across America recently, no one could have predicted what would happen next. A glitch in the system caused some who didn't qualify for the checks to receive them anyway—including those who had already "checked out" and gone on to the great beyond.
For instance, Antoniette Santopadre, who lives in the vicinity of Long Island, New York, was surprised to find a letter from the U.S. Treasury in her mailbox one day—along with a check addressed to her father, Romolo Romonini.
A United States citizen who died more than three decades ago in Italy, Romonini left the U.S. in 1933, returning only once for a seven-month visit. He apparently made an impression on the government, however, whose payout guidelines suggest recipients must qualify for Social Security funds in order to be eligible for a stimulus check.
Romonini not only didn't qualify for Social Security funding; he vacated the U.S. two years before Social Security was invented.
As it turns out, that incident wasn't isolated. 8,000 to 10,000 checks just like the one Santopadre received for her father went were issued to other deceased Americans this year, angering many who say the government doesn't know what it's doing.
The problems didn't begin this year either. Last year, a $600 stimulus check made out to "George A. Coker DECD" landed in Roswell, Georgia, in the hands of a good friend. Turns out, the "DECD" means—you guessed it—deceased.
Coker's longtime friend, Richard Hicks, who functioned as his personal representative and filed the man's 2007 taxes for him following his passing, was understandably offended.
"There's a $9 trillion national debt, and our government's giving away money to dead people!" he told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
All at a cost of $13 billion to the federal budget, according to CNN.com.
It seems Hicks is in good company. When James Hagner of Washington, D.C., opened his mailbox recently, he also found a check for a dead family member: his mother, Rose, who died on Memorial Day-more than 40 years ago!
In an ironic twist, Hagner says that, back in 1996, he received another piece of mail addressed to his mother: a card from the White House, congratulating Rose on her 100th birthday, reports the Denver Post.
Following that guffaw, the stimulus check Hagner received on behalf of his mother might as well have been a slap in the face.
When asked about situations like these, Mark Green, an Atlanta-based spokesman for the Internal Revenue Service, said people who qualified for the stimulus check last year can get another check this year—even if they've "gone on to a bigger reward."
The IRS blames these snafus on a rushed schedule, and claims it had no record of certain deaths, leading them to believe family members were still alive. But many families who've received checks for dead relatives think the notion is absurd.
"I want to know: How many more of these are out there?" Hagner said with indignation. "They holler about the cost of government...."
In an even stranger twist, some people, who were just as dumbfounded at their luck, received more than their fair share last year, including one woman in Chicago who was paid twice.
Having already deposited her first stimulus check, the unidentified woman contacted her tax preparer, who advised her not to cash the second check or she'd have to repay the IRS.
"Don't cash it and hope [the IRS] won't catch it," says Barbara Steinmetz, a certified financial planner and the woman's tax accountant in San Mateo, California. "They have some very sophisticated matching programs [and] are capable of tracking it if you got more than one. Don't think it's a windfall."
Though the Chicago woman is the only person so far who has owned up to getting more than one stimulus check, the IRS said in May, 2008, that about 1,500 payments accidentally went to the wrong bank accounts that year.
If, like 52 million other people, you're watching and waiting for your stimulus check to arrive in the mail so you can pay your insurance premiums or put food on the table, take advantage of the waiting period and request an insurance quote through InsureMe. We'll help you lower your rates so you can pay your bills on time.
But be advised: Unlike the government (apparently), we simply can't help the dead.
