Here's What You Need To Remember: The IRS and Treasury Department have issued about $3.5 billion in stimulus payments, recently. 

The Internal Revenue Service and the Treasury Department have announced that 1.8 million more coronavirus stimulus checks have been issued as part of the tenth batch of payments under President Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan.

With this new tranche, the total number of checks sent out to date is now approximately one hundred sixty-seven million with a value of $391 billion. They represent 87 percent of the $450 billion total earmarked for the current third round of stimulus payments.

Of the nearly two million new checks worth more than $3.5 billion, about nine hundred thousand of them were issued via direct deposit, while the rest were delivered via paper checks or prepaid debit cards.

Once again, a large number of the new payments—nearly one million—targeted recent tax filers who previously did not have the necessary information on file at the IRS. The government for weeks has been urging Americans who do not receive federal benefits or file tax returns to submit one as soon as possible.  

In addition, the May 17 Tax Day deadline may have already passed, but the agency asserts that Americans can still get their hands on the missing payments. All they have to do is apply for an extension and file by the October 15 tax filing extension deadline.

“Although payments are automatic for most people, the IRS continues to urge people who don’t normally file a tax return and haven’t received Economic Impact Payments to file a 2020 tax return to get all the benefits they’re entitled to under the law, including tax credits such as the 2020 Recovery Rebate Credit, the Child Tax Credit, and the Earned Income Tax Credit. Filing a 2020 tax return will also assist the IRS in determining whether someone is eligible for an advance payment of the 2021 Child Tax Credit, which will begin to be disbursed this summer,” the IRS stated.

“For example, some federal benefits recipients may need to file a 2020 tax return—even if they don’t usually file—to provide information the IRS needs to send payments for a qualifying dependent,” the agency added.

In addition to the regular stimulus checks, the IRS also has been busy fast-tracking the so-called “plus-up” or supplemental checks. This tenth batch included more than nine hundred thousand of such payments.

These funds are “for people who earlier in March received payments based on their 2019 tax returns but are eligible for a new or larger payment based on their recently processed 2020 tax returns. … These ‘plus-up’ payments could include a situation where a person’s income dropped in 2020 compared to 2019, or a person had a new child or dependent on their 2020 tax return, and other situations,” the IRS states, adding that it has made more than seven million of these payments this year.

Ethen Kim Lieser is a Minneapolis-based Science and Tech Editor who has held posts at Google, The Korea Herald, Lincoln Journal Star, AsianWeek, and Arirang TV. Follow or contact him on LinkedIn.

Image: Reuters

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