Japanese pensioners with US stimulus checks go down to Tokyo banks

Tokyo bank branches have been flooded by pensioners trying to cash Joe Biden’s stimulus checks after the U.S. Internal Revenue Service sent thousands of payments to Japanese citizens in an apparent mistake.

An official at one of Japan’s largest banks said the problem was causing “congestion and confusion” at some branches in the Tokyo area as staff tried to manage unknown currency controls.

Payments appeared to have been sent to Japanese retirees who had worked in the United States, highlighting Biden’s huge scale. Stimulus of $ 1.9 million and the risk of wasting hastily to get money out the door.

Payments to ineligible foreign recipients, including in many countries beyond Japan, were a problem during previous stimulus rounds. passed by Donald Trump.

However, recent Japanese recipients did not receive checks in 2020, suggesting that the problem of erroneous payments may be even greater this time around.

“I felt grateful and thought America was amazing,” said a 75-year-old retiree from a Japanese commercial house, who worked in the United States in the 1970s. He received one $ 1,400 stimulus check this month.

The following week was spent exchanging texts and calls with friends who had also received checks. Two of his friends were able to cash their checks at the Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, while another managed to do so at a central branch of Mizuho in Tokyo.

But when he consulted his local Mizuho office, he was told he had to confirm his eligibility before he could receive cash, which prompted him to open a bank account at SMFG.

A few days later, he saw media reports suggesting that he may not have been eligible for the checks he and his wife received. “It ended like a short dream,” he said. “Now my biggest interest is what will happen to those who have already received the cash.”

Two of the three Japanese mega-banks continue to cash checks for customers with an existing account they say are eligible. Banks asked that they not be called for fear of creating additional demand at their branches.

Koh Fujimoto, a CDH accountant in Chicago who specializes in advising Japanese people with cross-border tax problems, said only U.S. citizens – who tax their world income – and foreigners living in the United States were eligible for checks. “It simply came to our notice then income rating,” added.

Some Japanese receive a small pension from the United States after paying taxes during a job, before signing a social security treaty in 2005. Fujimoto said the IRS may have failed to distinguish them from northern pensioners. Americans with incomes too low to file a tax return.

If large amounts are lost, the U.S. would probably take action, Fujimoto said, but added that it would be difficult to make senior foreign nationals pay once the checks had been cashed. However, “people who are not eligible should return the money,” he said.

The IRS confirmed they were “non-resident aliens” not suitable and should send checks to an address in Austin, Texas.

According to the treasury department inspector general, Trump’s first $ 1,200 stimulus payments in the spring of 2020 included $ 27,808 checks worth $ 34 million to foreign addresses, which included eligible and ineligible recipients.

The U.S. Treasury did not provide any figures for this year’s payments and otherwise declined to comment.