ST. LOUIS — The Internal Revenue Service says overdue economic stimulus checks will soon be mailed to about a quarter of a million married couples who had been denied the money because a spouse’s married name and Social Security number didn’t match.
When a couple marries and a spouse — usually the woman — changes names, the couple is supposed to alert the Social Security Administration. But tens of thousands have failed to do so and were unaware of the consequences until this year, when they didn’t cash in on the rebate package enacted in February that resulted in payments to taxpayers of mostly $600-$1,200.
In an interview with The Associated Press last month, an Internal Revenue Service spokesman affirmed that stimulus checks would be sent only to those whose names and Social Security numbers matched.
But on Oct. 8, the IRS updated the question-and-answer section on its website to say it will mail stimulus payments this month to an additional 260,000 married taxpayers.
“During the processing of the 2007 returns for these taxpayers, the IRS was able to determine that the person listed on the return actually was the person associated with the SSN,” the website reads.
Those people should be getting letters within days telling them how much they’ll get.
