You may still be eligible for a $1,400 IRS stimulus check from the pandemic period, but the April 15, 2025, deadline is approaching, after which the funds will revert to the government.
As reported by CBS News, these payments are referred to as the Recovery Rebate Credit. Those who have not yet received these payments are typically individuals who did not submit 2021 tax returns but might still be eligible. The IRS states that anyone can qualify for these payments by filing their 2021 returns before April 15, “even if their income from a job, business, or other sources was minimal or non-existent.”
The IRS has indicated that 1.1 million taxpayers have “unclaimed refunds for tax year 2021 but face an April 15 deadline to submit their tax returns.”
“According to the law, taxpayers typically have three years to file and claim their tax refunds. If they do not file within this period, the funds are considered property of the U.S. Treasury,” the IRS stated.
“If you did not receive the full amount of the third Economic Impact Payment, you may be qualified to claim the 2021 Recovery Rebate Credit and are required to file a 2021 tax return – even if you usually do not file taxes – in order to claim it,” the IRS added.
In December, the IRS announced it was issuing “automatic payments later this month to eligible individuals who did not claim the Recovery Rebate Credit on their 2021 tax returns.” These checks were dispatched by January to qualifying taxpayers.
“The IRS took this special action after analyzing internal data, which indicated that many eligible taxpayers had filed their returns but did not claim the credit. The Recovery Rebate Credit is a refundable credit for individuals who either did not receive some or all Economic Impact Payments (EIP), also known as stimulus payments,” the IRS noted during that announcement.
However, there is another group of individuals who are still eligible but have not filed any returns at all.
“The payment amounts vary based on several factors, but the maximum payment is $1,400 per individual. The IRS estimated that the total payments to be distributed will amount to approximately $2.4 billion,” according to the IRS.
The IRS has a webpage that provides eligibility criteria for these payments.
