The media reported thousands of checks sent from the United States to the Japanese for $ 1.4 thousand.

Due to the mistake of the US Internal Revenue Service, which sent thousands of Japanese citizens stimulus checks for $ 1.4 thousand as part of President Joe Biden's plan to rescue the American economy, queues of pensioners formed in Japanese banks, writes The Financial Times.

The newspaper, citing a spokesman for one of Japan's largest banks, said that at some branches of the financial institution in Tokyo, this caused "crowding and confusion" as employees tried to process unfamiliar foreign currency checks.

According to Nikkei Asia, among those who received payments were Japanese citizens who previously lived in the United States, but left the country long ago. The checks were sent based on income data reported on tax returns filed by residents. The Internal Revenue Service clarified that foreigners who are not US tax residents and live outside the country in 2021 are not eligible for the assistance program.

In the case of Japan, checks were erroneously sent to those who lived in the US before October 2005, when the social security agreement between the two countries went into effect. Prior to its incarceration, Japanese expatriates working in the United States had to pay contributions to the US social security program, so their data is still held by the country's Internal Revenue Service, the Nikkei notes.