Gephardt: West Jordan Family Gets Extra Stimulus Payment Without Explanation

WEST JORDAN, Utah – The federal stimulus showed up, as expected, for millions of Americans. But a West Jordan family said they got twice as much as they were due.

It sounds like a good problem to have: extra money in the bank. But the KSL Investigators got the call because the people who received the payment can’t seem to get any clear answers on whether or not it’s theirs to keep.

“We keep getting sent around in circles,” said Sally Wood of West Jordan.

She and her husband, Ryan Wood, got their stimulus money back in April, but then another $1,200 payment showed up in June.

Thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, Sally Wood lost her job and the couple could really use the money — but they weren’t comfortable spending it.

“The last thing we want to have happen is, you know, we spend the money and then not be able to return it,” Ryan Wood said.

Sally Wood said she’s tried repeatedly to get someone from the IRS to explain the bonus payment, but to no avail.

“I’ve not been able to get through call the phone number,” she said. “There’s no option that says, ‘if you receive a second stimulus check, then push this number.’”

In April, professional tax preparer Brian Horne with Affordable Tax and Accounting in Woods Cross told KSL TV because of how the economic impact payment program was structured, errors were guaranteed. He said they are errors that will be straightened out next April.

“If you received a credit you should not have received, you’ll probably have to pay it back,” Horne said. “If there are credits you didn’t get, you will then get them into the next year when you file your taxes.” 

As for the Woods, the KSL Investigators reached out to the U.S. Department of the Treasury on their behalf to ask if the extra money deposited in their account was theirs to keep.

A spokesman said they couldn’t comment on individual taxpayers but a few days later, the Woods got an explanation in the mail.

A letter on White House letterhead and signed by President Donald Trump explained the money was correctly deposited. It was a payment, it reads, for Sally’s two teenage sons from a previous marriage.

If you are overpaid, or if the money is sent to someone who is deceased, U.S. Treasury officials told KSL you will be expected to return the money.

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