{"id":61016,"date":"2025-12-04T19:07:14","date_gmt":"2025-12-04T19:07:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/61016\/"},"modified":"2025-12-04T19:07:14","modified_gmt":"2025-12-04T19:07:14","slug":"dead-people-got-inflation-refund-checks-in-new-york","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/61016\/","title":{"rendered":"Dead people got inflation refund checks in New York"},"content":{"rendered":"

New York state sent out inflation refund checks<\/a> to dead people, according to a new report from News10NBC.<\/p>\n

Valerie Liles told the local station that she received a $200 check from New York this month for her father, Richard Dusing, who died in May\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI just never expected they would send a check to someone who\u2019s been deceased for, what was it, 6-7 months?\u201d Liles said.<\/p>\n

Why It Matters<\/p>\n

New York sent out inflation refund checks in an attempt to help residents navigate increasing prices,<\/a> with payments of up to $400 mailed out to eligible New Yorkers.<\/p>\n

However, some dead people were included in the list, causing widespread confusion.<\/p>\n

\"\"What To Know<\/p>\n

The inflation rebate checks New York issued are up to $200 in value for single state tax filers and $400 for joint filers, based on income reported in 2023.<\/p>\n

Due to this, dead New Yorkers who filed a 2023 state tax return often still had inflation refund checks sent to their address.<\/p>\n

The New York State Department of Taxation and Finance has said that those who receive a check made out to their deceased family member or loved one should contact the department to clarify if they are the estate administrator or beneficiary.<\/p>\n

If they are not, the check is not to be used.<\/p>\n

It is so far unclear how many dead people inadvertently received the payments, but Liles said she dealt with repeated phone calls to state agencies to figure out what to do with the payment.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, it\u2019s like they\u2019re willy-nilly picking a year, sending checks out. They don\u2019t even know if these people are dead or alive. It\u2019s just bizarre,\u201d Liles said.<\/p>\n

Long term, repeated errors like this could undermine public confidence in relief efforts, said Michael Ryan, a finance expert and the founder of MichaelRyanMoney.com<\/a>. It also opens the door to abuse or fraud as checks intended for residents could end up wrongly cashed.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn one hand, the refund initiative was well-intentioned. A fast way to deliver aid to households hurting from inflation,\u201d Ryan told Newsweek.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn the other hand, this kind of slip-up shows the danger of \u2018mass mail-outs\u2019 when data integrity (like updated life status) isn\u2019t enforced.\u201d<\/p>\n

What People Are Saying<\/p>\n

Michael Ryan, a finance expert and the founder of MichaelRyanMoney.com<\/a> told Newsweek: \u201cA refund is only helpful if it\u2019s precise. Sending checks blindly to anyone on file might put money \u2018in the mail\u2019 fast… But it also risks money going to the wrong people. If I were advising a state government, I\u2019d say: build in a death-record check or require simple estate verification before issuing these checks. That extra step costs you some time, but protects integrity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alex Beene, a financial literacy instructor for the University of Tennessee at Martin, told Newsweek: \u201cAnyone who qualified based on their 2023 tax filing would automatically receive a check, which certainly makes the process easy and efficient for most New Yorkers. At the same time, unfortunately, some who qualified based on their 2023 tax status have passed in the time since and could still receive a check.\u201d<\/p>\n

What Happens Next<\/p>\n

Those who receive these checks for a deceased loved one should contact the State Department of Taxation and Finance immediately.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s still possible if you are the legal beneficiary of that individual’s state, you could have access to those funds, but you need to verify that from a designated official,\u201d Beene said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New York state sent out inflation refund checks to dead people, according to a new report from News10NBC.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":61017,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[6079,9,11,10,21039,32588],"class_list":{"0":"post-61016","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-inflation","9":"tag-new-york","10":"tag-new-york-headlines","11":"tag-new-york-news","12":"tag-payment","13":"tag-rebate"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61016","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61016"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61016\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61017"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}