A third stimulus check from the government, in the amount of $1,400 per qualifying taxpayer and approved under the American Rescue Act in 2021, may still be owing to thousands of Americans. This payment was intended to be made in 2021.
According to a recent study from the Inspector General for Tax Administration of the United States Treasury Department, as of the middle of September 2021, there were about 645,000 possibly eligible individuals who had not received a third stimulus check. After September, some of those taxpayers did get checks, but the study does not specify how many taxpayers had received their reimbursements since the time of the report’s publication.
According to estimates provided by the Treasury, the total amount of uncashed stimulus cheques is around $1.6 billion. This is not a trivial number.
The IRS Dispatching More Stimulus Checks
More than 175 million tax filers have already received their third wave of stimulus funds, which were dispersed by the IRS. A few individuals, though, may have slipped between the gaps; fortunately, the current tax season affords them a chance to recoup any outstanding funds.
On March 30, the IRS announced that it would no longer be sending stimulus checks from any of the first two rounds or the third. A Recovery Rebate Credit for the amount not received may be claimed on a taxpayer’s federal tax return for 2020 or 2021.
For instance, some 2021 households that welcomed a new member may have missed out on the third stimulus check allotted to them. The Internal Revenue Service would not have known about children born in 2021 or adopted in 2021 if it had relied on tax returns from the prior year to assess eligibility.
In addition, certain persons whose earnings dropped in 2021 may be eligible for further stimulus funds. People whose income dropped in 2021 below the $160,000 level for married couples may be eligible for extra money since the payments were tapered off above that amount.
