Thousands of Americans may still be due to a third government stimulus check, which was allowed under the American Rescue Act in 2021 and amounts to $1,400 per qualifying taxpayer.
According to a new study from the Treasury Department’s Inspector General for Tax Administration, about 645,000 potentially eligible people had not received a third stimulus check by the middle of September 2021. Some of those people received checks after September, but the report doesn’t say how many have received payouts since then.
The total amount of unpaid stimulus checks is estimated to be $1.6 billion, according to the Treasury Department.
The IRS Dispatching More Stimulus Checks
To be sure, the IRS has distributed most of the payments from the third round of stimulus checks, with over 175 million taxpayers receiving checks. However, some people may have slipped through the cracks, and the current tax season may present them with an opportunity to claim the unpaid bill, according to Digital Market News.
As per reports, The Internal Revenue Service said on March 30 that it will no longer be issuing first-, second-, or third-round stimulus checks. However, taxpayers who missed a check or did not receive the full amount due to them can claim the extra money as a Recovery Rebate Credit on their 2020 or 2021 federal tax returns, according to the IRS.
Some families that had a new kid in 2021, for example, may not have received the third stimulus check. The IRS would not have known about children born or adopted in 2021 if it had relied on the previous year’s tax return to determine eligibility.
Additionally, some people whose earnings declined in 2021 may be eligible for additional stimulus payments. Because the payments were phased out at certain income levels — such as $160,000 for married couples — people whose earnings fell below that level in 2021 may be eligible for more money.
