IRS stimulus checks labeled 'DECD' sent to deceased people anyway

Relatives of deceased people are receiving stimulus checks in the mail that read 'DECD.' The IRS hasn't explained why the checks went out anyway.

By Nicholas Ballasy

Published: May 11, 2020 4:18pm

Updated: May 11, 2020 5:29pm

The Internal Revenue Service appears to have known it was sending coronavirus stimulus checks to decreased individuals because the label “DECD” is printed on the check.

“Stimulus checks to dead people: Check says deceased right on it!” Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), a member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, tweeted on Monday with a photo of a check the IRS sent to a deceased person with the “DECD” label next to their name.

When asked about the checks, the IRS directed Just the News to a link to the agency's webpage containing frequently asked questions about stimulus checks that advises relatives of deceased people to return the stimulus payments made via direct deposit or check.

The Treasury Department was not available for comment before this story was posted.

In other reported instances, a Milwaukee man whose son died in 2018 said the IRS clearly knew he was dead because “right next to his name, the letters ‘DECD' – for ‘deceased’ – were printed” on the check, according to a news report from a local television station.

"So why did they send this check?” he asked.

And The Chicago Sun Times has reported about a person finding a $1,200 COVID-19 stimulus check in the mail labeled "DECD" next to the name of their deceased relative.