What does one do with a paper stimulus check in Brazil?

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mberigan Serial expat

Member since 21 January 2020

mberiganSerial expat10 May 2020 17:59:17

320

The one thing I've learned about Brazil since first visiting (1981) and then moving here (2009) is that everything that used to be easy getting done in the USA is now extremely hard, often very frustrating. That's not such a great surprise having watched Brazilians moving to the USA since the late 70s generally demonstrated that they were thrilled how things work(ed) well in the USA compared to here BUT what I'm really taking aim at is getting online financial stuff done.

It blew me away when I discovered I could no longer pay bills directly from my USA account (apparently) because there are rules that "help protect" the world from people doing illegal financial things. I get it but I also get that it isn't rocket science to figure out how to create robusst systems that can flag those things without limiting people that just want to take care of their bills online.

It blew me away when I had to call up my (smaller) USA bank and ask to speak with the network administrator to plead that they make a firewall exception for me because I wasn't a Brazilian hacker, just an expat in Brazil.

It blew me away when new apps came available for banking and NONE OF THEM can be downloaded to a Brazilian cell phone (yes, I know there are tricks one can do with a phone bought in the states).

<snip>
a really long list of things that raise my ire
</snip>

The latest is with the IRS and the stimulus check.
<happyface>I'm going to get one</happyface>
<sadface>It'll be a paper checked mailed to me according to the Get My Payment app at IRS.gov.</sadface>
<confused>Given that I always have to PAY taxes because I don't do deductions and have been paying taxes from the same bank account which was JUST used to pay my 2019 taxes, one would think that the IRS HAS MY BANK routing and account number and shouldn't have to send my a pretty worthless paper check which I have yet to figure out how to get deposited at my bank,</confused>
<angry>There's no way to get IRS help. Phone support is not available. I can't create an IRS account to try to do anything to resolve my more-than-singular-issue. I think that the BRAZILIAN sites I need to get financial stuff done on arde BETTER.</angry>

I have sent a note to my bank for their suggestions.

Anybody here in Braziland (or other distant lands) have suggestions

abthree Brazil expert

Member since 28 December 2017

abthreeBrazil expert10 May 2020 18:32:18

5967

I'm apparently in the same boat you are. Even though I provided my bank info through the Get My Payment site, it now says that they're sending me a paper check on the 15th. My bank let's me deposit checks on their app by taking pictures of the front and back, however, so my only delay should be in getting the check here from US Global Mail. If you don't have that functionality with your bank's app, you're probably stuck with snail mail, unfortunately. Having your mail forwarder send it to the attention of an individual whom you've briefed in advance at your US bank may save you money and and time.

BTW , reading the IRS information carefully, they only seem to promise to do direct deposits if they've paid refunds that way for 2018 or 2019. Like you I've paid, not received a refund, so I suppose that they haven't bothered to record the account information we've given them.

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