‘IRS is just making this up’: Legal experts slam Trump admin for demanding inmates return COVID-19 relief

After hundreds of thousands of dollars of coronavirus relief payments were sent to people in prisons across the U.S., the IRS is trying to get the money back, according to a report from KTLA5.

The IRS claims the money was sent mistakenly, even though legislation authorizing the payments doesn't specifically exclude prisoners. The IRS also hasn't detailed what legal authority gives it the right to reclaim the money. On the IRS website, it mentions the Social Security Act, which bars prisoners from receiving some types of old-age and survivor insurance benefit payments.

“I think it’s really disingenuous of the IRS,” Tax attorney Kelly Erb told KTLA5. “It’s not a rule just because the IRS puts it on the website. In fact, the IRS actually says that stuff on its website isn’t legal authority. So there’s no actual rule — it’s just guidance — and that guidance can change at any time.”

While it's not known how much money was actually sent to prisoners, KTLA5 says the Kansas Department of Correction intercepted more than $200,000 in checks by early June, and Idaho and Montana combined had seized over $90,000.

Wanda Bertram, a spokeswoman for the Prison Policy Initiative, says the IRS is going rogue on its decision to reclaim the payments. “It appears that the IRS is just making this up,” she said.

“Loved ones [of prisoners] right now are also under a squeeze because of the pandemic and being out of a job, so when you send a stimulus check for someone, the person in prison is not the only one who benefits from that,” Bertram said.