Back in April, an Indiana man made news when he revealed that he can’t get his $1,400 stimulus check for a unique reason: Because the IRS, and several other government agencies, are under the mistaken impression that he is dead.

That man, Bobby Musgrave, has been mistakenly listed by the IRS as dead, and has been for at least a couple of years, which means he’s missed out on all three stimulus checks, as well as multiple years of tax refunds.

And not only that, but he was added to something called the Death Master File, a list maintained by the government of everyone who is deceased. That list is even sometimes shared with the private sector. Musgrave first learned of his predicament when he received a letter of condolences on his own “death.” He has worked to contact government agencies and even met with the IRS in person, but to no avail, at least as of last month.

Now, an Oklahoma man is suffering a similar predicament.

Robert Carlberg told KJRH that he was grieving the death of his wife when he learned that the IRS believes that he had died as well. He filed a tax return in 2019 and learned that the return could not be processed, because he had been listed as deceased.

"Everybody thinks it's funny, though. You don't sound like you're dead and everything," Carlberg told the news station. "It is kind of humorous, but after this amount of time, it's no longer humorous."

Much like his Indiana counterpart, Carlberg was given the runaround by both the IRS and the Social Security Administration, with both agencies telling Carlberg that the other could help him.

The situation is having a meaningful impact on Carlberg’s life, as he told the station that his daughters may have to drop out of college, because his limbo status is keeping them from qualifying for financial aid.

He has, however, been told that his situation will be fixed by the end of the week.

There have also been some instances of the opposite problem- people who got stimulus checks meant for the dead. The IRS says that anyone who received a stimulus check for a dead relative is supposed to return it to the government, provided the person passed away prior to January 1, 2021, although their relatives can keep the stimulus checks if the death occurred after the first of the year.

In the summer of 2020, the IRS canceled uncashed stimulus checks, from the CARES Act, that had been sent out to deceased individuals.

“As a result of the review, IRS and the Bureau of Fiscal Service (BFS) took action to prevent future payments to deceased individuals,” the IRS said at the time. “The cancellation of uncashed checks is part of this process.”

Stephen Silver, a technology writer for The National Interest, is a journalist, essayist and film critic, who is also a contributor to The Philadelphia Inquirer, Philly Voice, Philadelphia Weekly, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Living Life Fearless, Backstage magazine, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. Follow him on Twitter at @StephenSilver.