Dutch banks unable to process latest U.S. Coronavirus stimulus checks

The American Expat Financial News Journal (February 23, 2021)

Dutch banks unable to process latest U.S. Coronavirus stimulus checks

'As long ago as last April, the Washington, D.C.-based American Citizens Abroad was urging then-Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig to urgently address the problems Americans even then were having in accessing their first CARES Act stimulus payments.

As reported, the Treasury announced last May that it would begin sending out pre-paid debit cards rather than paper checks to those expats who reported having problems cashing them. 

Meanwhile, because American expats were struggling with overseas bank account issues long before the covid pandemic shone a spotlight on them, the Washington, D.C.-based American Citizens Abroad has been running a program for its members since 2016 that enables them to obtain State Department Federal Credit Union bank acccounts. Once an expat opens such an SDFCU account, they will be able 'to mail or scan' their CARES Act stimulus check to the bank for deposit, according to ACA executive director Marylouise Serrato. 

Electronic transfers from the IRS won't be possible 'until you have an SDFCU account set up, in order to provide the IRS with [your bank account] information,' Serrato added. 

She said the organization is 'still in active discussions' with the IRS on the issue of making deposits into foreign bank accounts possible, among other issues, and that it continues to advise the IRS as well as it addresses the changes that have been called for by the so-called Taxpayer First Act, a 2019 bill aimed at making the IRS more 'consumer-friendly.''