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Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2020

Is the IRS asking incarcerated individuals to return payments they received through the coronavirus relief bill?

Allegra Taylor, Gigafact
yes

The Internal Revenue Service added language to its website on May 6 declaring that incarcerated people who might have received a payment under the March coronavirus relief bill should return it. The Associated Press reported that hundreds of thousands of dollars in aid was sent to incarcerated people. The bill itself didn’t exclude anyone in prison or jail from receiving a payment, but the IRS determined that incarcerated people were ineligible.

The IRS cites a provision of the Social Security Act as its basis for retracting payments, but two advocacy groups focused on prisons say the agency has no legal basis for the rule. It's unclear what, if any, further steps the IRS can take to enforce its ruling.

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