Treasury wants stimulus payments to dead people repaid

Economic stimulus payments errantly sent to the deceased should be returned, according to the Treasury Department.

A Treasury spokesperson indicated the department is developing a plan to retrieve the coronavirus-related payments, but didn't provide details.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said “heirs should be returning that money,” in an interview with The Wall Street Journal Tuesday. He said the department is checking databases that would help Treasury track payments worth up to $1,200 to individuals, based on their 2018 or 2019 tax returns, but who have died.

Treasury’s move follows President Donald Trump’s recent vow to get the money back.

Critics have been quick to seize on reports of the federal government sending checks to dead people, which relatives have been writing about on social media. The IRS is supposed to check death records before payments go out.

But experts say it’s not unusual some would slip through as the IRS scrambles to get payments out to more than 150 million Americans. Moreover, there’s a lag between when someone dies and the federal government is notified.

Congress also stipulated that the IRS could rely on tax returns from last year to send out payments for people who haven’t filed this year. Some of those taxpayers have no doubt passed away.

When the government last made similar payments, in 2009, 71,000 went to people who had died — 0.1 percent of the 52 million payments issued.

Formal guidance hasn’t yet been issued to clarify how heirs would return payments to the deceased.

The bully pulpit has worked for Trump and Mnuchin in recent days on getting back other emergency money — federal loans that went to large companies and other entities before small businesses.

Companies like the Ruth’s Chris restaurant chain, colleges with large endowments such as Harvard, and even pro sports franchises, including the NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers, have returned loans they received through the Paycheck Protection Program after Trump and Mnuchin effectively shamed them into doing so.