The U.S. Department of Treasury and IRS should develop a tool for domestic violence survivors that will allow them to notify the agency if they haven't received their economic impact payments, House Republicans and Democrats said in a letter to Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig.
The stimulus payments were authorized by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act
, which President Donald Trump signed into law in March. The legislation directs the IRS to send $1,200 to individual taxpayers and $2,400 to couples filing joint tax returns.The lawmakers told Mnuchin and Rettig that many caseworkers in their districts have tried to help domestic violence survivors recover their payments in the event they were delayed or taken by their abusers. But in cases in which the couples are married, the IRS has advised that victims should settle their disputes over the payments in divorce court proceedings, an untenable position, according to the letter.
"The IRS has previously decided to issue catch-up payments to qualifying individuals whose [economic impact payments] were erroneously offset, as well as catch-up payments for qualifying families with children who did not receive their $500 payments," the legislators said in the letter. "Let us now provide the same relief to survivors of domestic violence who deserve our full support during this difficult time."
--Editing by Neil Cohen.
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