U.S.: Incomplete records hold up virus-aid checks.

WASHINGTON — Millions of Americans are in danger of missing coronavirus relief payments of up to $1,200 per person because of incomplete government records, a government watchdog said in a report issued Monday.

The Government Accountability Office, Congress’ auditing arm, said that possibly 8.7 million or more people who are eligible for the economic impact payments have yet to receive them because of inadequate IRS and Treasury Department records.

That was one of a number of findings in the latest GAO report on the handling of the unprecedented $2.6 trillion in support passed by Congress last spring to cushion the impact from a sharp recession triggered by the global pandemic.

The GAO also called on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to do a better job in providing guidance to local schools on when they can safely reopen.

The GAO said the IRS did implement several recommendations it made in a June report to make sure those eligible for the payments received them, such as extending the deadline for individuals who had not filed an income tax return to apply for the payments through Sept. 30.

But the GAO said Treasury and the IRS have still failed to update information on how many eligible recipients have yet to receive funds.

The lack of “such information could hinder outreach efforts and place potentially millions of individuals at risk of missing their payment,” the GAO said in its report.

In April, the report said, Treasury estimated that 30 million individuals — including 16 million on Social Security and railroad pensions and 14 million who do not normally file tax returns — had not received their payments. The IRS then reported as of July 31 that 5.3 million individuals had used an online IRS tool for nonfilers to help them receive payments.

Those figures would mean that there could be 8.7 million or more people who are eligible for the payments but have not received them.

The report said Treasury officials did not state their agreement or disagreement with GAO recommendations to improve the eligibility lists. But the agency told the GAO it was working on an effort to notify about 9 million individuals that they might be eligible for the payments.

Responding to the report, the IRS said Monday that the effort also includes encouraging eligible people who don’t normally file tax returns to register using the online tool at IRS.gov as soon as possible before the Oct. 15 deadline.

The IRS and Treasury have undertaken “a sweeping communications and outreach effort” to reach eligible people, including distributing materials in more than 35 languages, the IRS said in a statement. It said the effort has already brought in about 7 million people who don’t normally file a return.

The economic impact payments were made by the IRS using direct deposit, paper checks and debit cards. The total appropriated by Congress for the economic payments was $282 billion.

All adults earning up to $75,000 in adjusted gross income were entitled to $1,200. That amount steadily declined for those earning more and was phased out entirely for people earning more than $99,000. Up to $500 per qualifying child also was paid.

In addition, the GAO has found that nearly $1.2 billion worth of stimulus money was sent to about 1.1 million individuals who had died.

The IRS has reclaimed about $700 million of the mistaken payments. The report estimates that even more returned payments are likely once a mail backlog at the agency eases.

Many of the payments were returned voluntarily. The IRS has instructions on its website about how to give back the money, but hasn’t sent letters telling relatives of the deceased how to do so. The Treasury Department also canceled some of the checks.

On schools struggling to reopen with in-person classes amid rising coronavirus cases in some states, the GAO report expressed concern about “the lack of cogent, clear and consistent federal guidance on the operating status of K-12 schools.”

Direction from the CDC and the U.S. Education Department on screening students and employees, what to do if a student or staff member tests positive for covid-19 and on mitigation measures has been inconsistent, the GAO report said.

Threats from the Trump administration to withhold funds from schools that didn’t reopen also didn’t align with an approach of making decisions based on reducing the risk of infections, the watchdog said.

The GAO said Treasury and the IRS have still failed to update information on how many eligible recipients have yet to receive funds.