Like it says on the tin. A couple of points, though:
This notice was for the second round of payments. The notice was dated February 18th. I actually got my payment direct deposited back in early January. And the notice instructed me to contact the IRS if I hadn’t received my payment within seven days of receipt of the notice. So…
Well I guess they put higher priority on getting the actual payments out than they put on getting notices out to tell you about it, which you had probably noticed already anyway.
I assume the notice you refer to is the “Form 1444-B”, which at least didn’t have Trump’s illegible signature on it this time.
I got my 2nd payment in my bank account on Jan. 1. A few weeks later, I looked up my account at the IRS site just to see what it said, and it said the payment was made on Jan. 4. Go figure. Then I got my 1444-B just last week, which I suppose I need to figure out how to do my taxes this year, although I already got that done two weeks ago.
Same thing for us: We got our payment on 1/4 and the notification to expect payment came way later. It confused us for a bit as we tried to determine what payment was yet to come.
I am just speculating, but perhaps this is the IRS’s way of checking on whether their records are correct. As I understand it, millions of those $600 checks went (temporarily) astray. If the letter comes back as undeliverable, the IRS would know there will be a problem. Not that they have the staff or resources to fix the problem, but at least they would know.
Except that I received my payment through direct deposit, and the form letter I received specifically stated that was how I was scheduled to receive it. The payment had already gone through electronically weeks before, and I’d have to think it would be a lot easier for the IRS to notice and track a problem with that than with a returned letter. And since I got a direct deposit, my physical address is irrelevant.
It makes sense as a physical double-check to ensure that 1) I was aware that a deposit had been made, and 2) that it actually went to my bank account. It was just funny to me that the physical notice was dated over a month after the electronic payment had been made, and I actually received it three weeks after that, and the letter told me to expect a payment, and inform the IRS if I hadn’t received it within seven days (I received, but not within seven days - it was more like seven weeks previously).
In the first two rounds, I got mine pretty early on. Not on the day the bill was signed, though! Still haven’t seen the third round payment, but I figure I’ll give the IRS another day or two to get its act together .
I got my third round stimulus payment direct deposited today. I wonder how long it will be until I get the letter in the mail telling me to expect it within the next seven days…