GOP senators complain to IRS about 'glitches' still preventing people from getting coronavirus payments

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Georgia’s two senators sent a letter Thursday to Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Charles Retting to complain about “glitches” at the tax-collecting agency that have prevented people from receiving their coronavirus-related stimulus checks.

Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, both Republicans, said they have fielded complaints from constituents about “glitches in the Internal Revenue Service’s processes” when people apply for the Economic Impact Payments that were part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act passed by Congress in March.

The Republican lawmakers specifically point to constituents never receiving their money despite being told they were eligible for the payments and having supplied the IRS with direct deposit information. Others have complained that when they try to input their direct deposit information in the “Need More Information” tool online, they receive an error message.

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Their constituents “are understandably frustrated that there is no viable way to follow up to receive an update on the status of their payment,” the senators wrote in their letter. “We urge you to take steps to continue to improve your online tool to ensure that eligible individuals can promptly receive their payments or create additional outlets for them to receive information on the status of their payments.”

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They added: “Considering today is the extended tax filing deadline, which will bring another wave of inquiries, we expect the IRS to develop an innovative plan to reduce the size of the backlog as soon as possible, since resuming operations at the current pace is unacceptable.”

The tax filing deadline was extended from April 15 to July 15 due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.

The global public health crisis has wreaked havoc on the United States’ economy – putting millions of people out of work and throwing financial markets into flux as states continue to struggle with reopening amid a surge of new COVID-19 cases.

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The U.S. coronavirus pandemic is now in month five, with infections hitting records in Florida, Texas and California, causing state and local authorities to again shut down parts of their economies.

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The trillions of dollars in economic support passed in April to keep Americans and businesses afloat is now mostly running out. Enhanced unemployment benefits expire at the end of the month unless Congress acts, and at this point many consumers are upward of 90 days past due on debts that would be in collections if it wasn’t for government and bank-sponsored forbearance programs.

Fox News' Brooke Singman contributed to this report.