The Treasury Department announced it has sent $112 billion of the $164 billion allocated for the $600 stimulus payments included in the latest pandemic aid package, a far faster pace than the first round in the spring, which took two weeks to get through just half the funding, according to the Wall Street Journal. The faster pace was attributed to the work the IRS had done this year to get the $1,200 payments to people such as Social Security recipients, nonfilers and other atypical cases.

However, as was the case with the first package, not everyone got them. The New York Times said the IRS has apparently sent payments to about 13 million accounts that were no longer open or valid. Payments have also gone to accounts that people can't, themselves, access, namely the temporary ones set up by tax prep companies to facilitate payments and other fees.

This is assuming, though, that people even know the status of their payments at all. While the IRS Get My Payment tool is meant to appraise people on their status, unprecedented demand has meant that many are getting a "please wait" message as the system struggles to handle the increased traffic, according to an FAQ on the payments. On the question of whether people will get a second payment if they haven't yet received a direct deposit, the IRS was rather blunt in saying "maybe."

The IRS acknowledged the issue with payments going to inactive or unfamiliar bank accounts, which it said was due to the speed at which the agency was meant to be sending out payments. By law, if a payment is sent to an inactive account, then the financial institution must return it to the IRS, which, in turn, won't be able to directly issue the payment to the intended recipient, as the agency is trying to both send out payments and prepare for the 2021 tax season at the same time and pretty much doesn't have the time to handle this on top of all that.

The IRS advises people that if they don't receive their Economic Impact Payment, they should file their 2020 tax return electronically and claim the Recovery Rebate Credit on their tax return to get their payment and any refund as quickly as possible.