LIers receive stimulus checks for deceased relatives 

Relatives of Long Islanders who died as late as 2018 say they have received federal coronavirus stimulus checks for their deceased family members and are unsure how to return the money.

Barbara Nelson,of Farmingdale, said she was surprised to learn that a $1,200 check had been deposited in her mother's account. Virginia Nelson, a longtime resident of Shelter Island, died at age 94 in December 2018 in a New Jersey nursing home.

A payment notification letter addressed to Virginia Nelson "Dec'd" arrived last Friday at Barbara Nelson's home. 

The family had filed Virginia Nelson's final income tax return, for the 2018 tax year, in 2019. "They knew she was deceased," Nelson said.

"Nobody knows what to do," with the money, said Nelson, 66, a retired school administrator. "It's sitting in an account." 

"There are so many people that are really struggling, they're out of work, they have kids, they have a lot going on. That's who should be getting the money," Nelson said.

Barbara Nelson is among an untold number of Americans who have received Economic Impact Payments for deceased relatives under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act. 

The measure, passed by Congress in late March and signed into law by President Donald Trump, provides one-time payments of up to $1,200 for individuals earning up to $75,000, and $2,400 for married couples who file jointly and make up to $150,000. Eligible taxpayers who filed tax returns for either 2019 or 2018 automatically receive the payments.

After reports of apparently mistaken payments to deceased individuals and couples across the nation, the U.S. Internal Revenue Service issued an advisory Wednesday saying payments "made to someone who died before receipt of the payment should be returned to the IRS."

Relatives who received checks should write "void" in the endorsement section on the back of the checks and mail them to an IRS location found on an IRS webpage. For example, New Yorkers should mail checks to the IRS' Brookhaven Refund Inquiry Unit in Holtsville, according to the webpage.

If the check already has been cashed, or sent via direct deposit, the individual should issue a new personal check to the IRS, according to the agency's guidance. 

Linda M. Toga, an estate planning attorney in Setauket, said she knew of several cases of checks sent to deceased individuals. Toga said she checks the mail of a client who died in April, and whose husband died in December. A $2,400 check was made out to the wife, Toga said.

"It's a big problem, because no one knows whether they can cash them," Toga said. "They don't know if they cash them, if they're going to have to return the money. They don't know where to even return them to."

Recipients also don't know "whether or not there's going to be any effort to claw back this money," Toga said. "It just seems they rushed into it."

This week, attorney David Lazer, of Huntington, received a check made out to his deceased father, Leon D. Lazer, a judge who served in the Appellate Division of state Supreme Court, and as Huntington Town attorney. Lazer died in January 2018 at age 96; the check was written to "Leon D. Lazer Dec'd."

"It's mind-boggling. I don't know what the left hand knows of the right hand," said Lazer, 65. "Obviously, they know he's dead. How do they know he's dead? There was an estate tax return filed, that's one good reason. All of the things were known to the federal government that he passed away."

Lazer continued, " … I'm an attorney, and I'm returning the check. Somebody could be the executor of an estate and simply deposit a check in an estate bank account if there is one."

Lazer said he planned to write the IRS, explaining his father was deceased.

"Who knows how much money is going into pockets that it doesn't belong" in, Lazer said.

Rep. Kathleen Rice (D-Garden City) said in a statement she had “heard from constituents who received Economic Impact Payments for deceased family members and my office has inquired with the IRS on how they plan to address this situation."

Rice noted she is a sponsor of the federal "Stopping Improper Payments to Deceased Individuals Act," which would give federal agencies access to the Social Security Administration’s death records, including state-reported data, "to prevent this from happening further.”

Rep. Pete King (R-Seaford) said while the federal government needs to figure out how to get the mistaken payments back, he was "not surprised to hear" of such issues.

"This program was put together so quickly," King said. "If you wanted to eliminate all those bugs, you never would've gotten the program started."

"If they wanted to get a perfect plan in place, it would have been months before the check went out," King said.

By Scott Eidler

scott.eidler@newsday.com@ScottEidler

Scott Eidler is a deputy editor for the towns department at Newsday. Scott has worked at Newsday since 2012 and previously covered municipal government and education.