As per records, over 9 M citizens of America are yet to claim their stimulus checks under Child Tax Credit and other relief packages issued by the Federal Govt. since the pandemic.
The child Tax Credit program was initiated to provide relief to children whose parents earned little or had no income at all. The stimulus check seeks to provide each child between the age of six to seventeen with USD 3 K and for children below age five, USD 3600 has been allocated for each.
Stimulus Check: Claim Before Deadline
The Internal Revenue Service, starting this week would try and reach out, through the mail, to individuals and families who seem to have qualified for a variety of stimulus checks offered by the Govt. but are yet to claim them. The Child Tax Credit and other tax benefits deadline were extended to give the opportunity to those who were yet to claim. There is only one way to claim tax benefits and that is to file an income tax return for 2021. Under normal circumstances, individuals and families having little or no income are not required to file their income tax returns.
To help people claim these benefits, the IRS has extended the deadline by a month. As of now, the extended deadline is Nov 17. The IRS is urging and encouraging people to file a very simplified tax return, free of charge with the IRS, using free file, A program developed jointly by IRS and the tax software industry.
As per reports, the GAO has pointed out that both the Treasury and the IRS have had much difficulty in identifying and reaching out to the people who are yet to receive their claims.
In the meantime deadline for filing income tax returns has been extended from Oct 17 to Feb 15 of 2023 for States affected by Hurricane Ian.
