While some expatriate Americans have been receiving and depositing or cashing their U.S. Economic Impact Payments without a problem, others continue to struggle. Fewer non-U.S. banks are willing to handle checks, while the IRS is still not sending money to expats’ overseas bank accounts...

One of those stories quietly running in the background of the Covid-19 pandemic has been that of the American expats who have struggled to obtain the so-called CARES Act stimulus payments they're supposed to be receiving – even as people who aren't U.S. citizens, and therefore shouldn't be receiving them, have been.

One such person is a former American whom we'll call Franz, who lives in Switzerland, and who renounced his U.S. citizenship in 2019...but received a check anyway...

The Democrats Abroad has unveiled an online survey to determine how well the U.S. CARES Act "stimulus payments", introduced earlier this year in response to the Covid pandemic, have served expats needs – and is inviting expats around the world to take it.

As lawyers representing plaintiffs in a number of U.S. states prepare to bring legal challenges against the U.S. government and key government officials for denying certain American taxpayers the right to receive CARES Act "Economic Impact Payments" because they most recently have been filing their tax returns jointly with their non-American citizen spouses, reports have emerged of renounced Americans as well as foreign workers living overseas getting the payments.

The American Citizens Abroad has asked the IRS to extend its deadline for those American expats wishing to use its online "Get My Payment" tool to input their direct deposit information beyond this coming Wednesday, as messages and updates having to do with the one-off CARES Act economic impact payments continue to be issued on a seemingly daily basis. 

David McKeegan, co-head and co-founder of Greenback Expat Tax Services, and Daria Prohorenko, one of the firm's expat tax experts, join the American Citizens Abroad's legal counsel and ACA Global Foundation chairman Charles Bruce, pictured, in addressing expat Americans' concerns about "the implications of Covid-19 tax law changes, coronavirus rebates" and related subjects, in the ACA's third "TaxCast" episode, which is live as of today (April 30). 

Two lawsuits were filed in the U.S. on Friday against President Trump and other key U.S. government officials over the denial to certain American taxpayers of their right to receive CARES Act "Economic Impact Payments" because they are married to non-American citizens who, though taxpayers, don't have Social Security numbers. 

A report that more than 1 million U.S. citizens living in states "as far afield as California and Pennsylvania" have been "blocked" from receiving CARES Act stimulus checks, which they seemingly should be entitled to, "because they are married to immigrants who don't have Social Security numbers," has sparked a debate among tax and legal experts in Expatland.

The American Citizens Abroad says it is working with its contacts at the IRS to resolve problems that an unknown but apparently significant number of expatriate Americans have been having in their attempts to make use of the federal tax agency's online tools for getting their so-called CARES Act recovery rebate payments. 

A U.S. federal office that oversees government funding measures has warned U.S. taxpayers to "be on the look-out for fraudulent activity" in connection with the so-called CARES Act Economic Impact Payments that are due to be going out to Americans around the world over the coming days and weeks.