GARDEN CITY, N.Y. (AP)  -- About 1,500 tax rebate checks being sent out by the IRS this month were wired to the bank accounts of people who already received their payments or others who were not entitled to the money.

The rebates, which are expected to reach 130 million households, range up to $600 for individuals and $1,200 for married couples, plus $300 per child for eligible parents. Congress approved the payments earlier this year as part of an economic stimulus initiative.

Newsday cited the example of a Long Island man who said he found an unexpected $1,800 in his bank account. The man told the paper he checked with his bank and found the deposit belonged to someone with a different Social Security number.

New York-based IRS spokesman Kevin McKeon acknowledged in a statement that about 1,500 payments nationwide went to wrong bank accounts. But he said the problem was dwarfed by the nearly 30 million stimulus payments totaling more than $27 billion that have been issued correctly.

``The IRS is working with taxpayers and banks on a case-by-case basis to resolve this issue as quickly as possible,'' McKeon said.

Anyone receiving a misdirected IRS deposit is required to report the mistake to their bank, he said. Anyone who receives a paper check they are not entitled to must also return the money.