Press Releases

Representatives Gwen Moore, Jamie Raskin, and Brian Fitzpatrick Demand the IRS Ensure Survivors of Domestic Abuse can Access their Economic Impact Payment (EIP)

Today, Representatives Gwen Moore, Jamie Raskin, and Brian Fitzpatrick led a bipartisan letter  joined by over 100 cosponsors to Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Commissioner Charles Rettig and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin calling on them to establish process that allows a survivor of domestic violence victims to notify the IRS that he/she is a victim of domestic violence whose EIP has been intercepted so that the IRS can issue the payment directly to the survivor. In response, she released the following statement:

“EIPs, or economic recovery rebates, are a key part of the federal government’s attempt to help all families affected by the unprecedented economic downturn our nation is now experiencing,” said Rep. Gwen Moore. “Receiving an EIP can mean the difference between a survivor having the means to leave an abuser and being forced to stay in a dangerous situation, which is critically important now given that cases of domestic violence are rising during the pandemic. But unfortunately, abusers are using EIPs as a tool of control to inflict financial abuse on their victims. That’s why I am joining my colleagues in demanding the IRS take a series of steps to guarantee domestic violence victims have access to the payments they are rightfully entitled to.”

“This pandemic has exacerbated the terrifying hardships that victims of domestic abuse experience at home, and I am deeply concerned by the sharp increase of domestic violence cases we are seeing in Maryland and across the country,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin. ““Congress passed the CARES Act to provide vital support to people in our communities—from small business people to the unemployed to the hungry to large corporations—during this public health and economic crisis. We must ensure survivors of domestic violence receive the essential relief they were guaranteed through the CARES Act, and the IRS should take immediate action to address this lingering injustice.”

“With people across our nation complying with stay-at-home orders, law enforcement has unfortunately seen an increase in the number of domestic violence calls they are receiving,” said Rep. Fitzpatrick. “We must do everything we can to support victims in their time of need, and our bipartisan request to the IRS will hopefully deliver the economic support that they deserve. I am proud to join my colleagues in urging the agency to issue missing economic impact payments (EIPs) to survivors of domestic violence , and I look forward to continuing our bipartisan work.”

This letter is supported by the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCADV), National Network to End Domestic Violence (NNEDV), and The Community Tax Law Project.

Read the full text of the letter here.