According to a report by the Champaign-Urbana, Ill. on Nov 5, 2008, nearly 160 people in Champaign County and 42 in Vermilion County are due federal tax refunds or economic stimulus payments, but the IRS has been unable to deliver them.

“In Illinois, the average undeliverable stimulus payment is $569, and the average undeliverable regular refund is $957,” said Sue Hales, an IRS spokeswoman in Illinois. “That’s a lot of money that could come in handy as the holidays approach.”

It’s crucial that taxpayers who may be due a stimulus check update their addresses with the IRS by Nov. 28. By law, economic stimulus checks must be sent out by Dec. 31 of this year.

At least one person whose name appeared on the list of people due payments said he’s already received his check.

“They messed up my stimulus payment, but I got it straightened out and did receive it,” said William Clary, who lives on Duncan Road in Champaign.

Clary said the IRS told him the original check was issued July 11. After he asked where it was, he was notified Sept. 9 a new check would be issued. He deposited the new check about three weeks later.

“They said it was undeliverable,” Clary said. “I’ve only lived here 12 or 13 years. They don’t have trouble finding me any other time.” Barry Rowe, a retired Champaign school teacher, said he was able to arrange for his stimulus payment shortly after being notified Thursday by The News-Gazette that he was on the list.

He said he called the IRS and was told he would receive the check in three to four weeks.

Rowe said he thinks his “undeliverable” status was related to his May 2007 move to the Turnberry Ridge subdivision.

“We moved, and our accountant had actually put the old address on our return,” he said.

Oddly enough, notice of the impending stimulus payment came to the new address, but the check itself never arrived. Rowe wondered whether it might have been deposited directly into his account.

Now that the check has been reissued, Rowe, a former technology director for Champaign schools, is considering what to do with it.

Maybe “buy a new computer,” said Rowe, to help keep track of future checks.

Nationally, the IRS says fewer than 1 percent of the checks it mails out are returned by the postal service as undeliverable.

Through September, the government had distributed 116 million economic stimulus payments, with only about 279,000 checks being undeliverable. The IRS distributed more than 105 million regular refunds, and only about 104,000 of those were undeliverable.

To find out whether you’re one of them, you can go to the IRS Web site www.irs.gov and use the “Where’s My Refund?” and “Where’s My Stimulus Payment?” tools to check the status of your payment. You can also get instructions on how to update your address.

Those without Internet access can call 1-866-234-2942 to check on the status of a stimulus payment or 1-800-829-1954 to check on the status of a federal tax refund.

Maybe President Obama, the former Senator from Illinois can help his constituents.