Here's What You Need to Remember: For the current round of $1,400 checks sent out under President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, taxpayers should know that the funds cannot be garnished for unpaid federal debts or back taxes. But do take note that they can be garnished for unpaid private debts, which can include credit card debts and overdue hospital bills.

The Internal Revenue Service may have already delivered hundreds of millions of coronavirus stimulus checks over three rounds—but recent data are indicating that many Americans haven’t cashed them or have already returned the payments.

According to the IRS, of the one hundred sixty million checks that were disbursed under the $2.2 trillion CARES Act in the spring of last year, roughly 1.25 million of the payments were never spent. A Newsweek analysis showed that residents in Pennsylvania, Vermont, Montana, and Michigan were found to most likely not cash the stimulus checks. Meanwhile, those in Arizona and Texas were the most eager to make use of the payments.

Know that throughout the disbursement of three rounds of stimulus checks, these types of reports aren’t uncommon. There have been plenty of cases in which the recipients of the funds aren’t as cash-strapped as believed to be.

According to one poll conducted Federal Reserve Bank of New York, it suggested that U.S. consumers are saving forty-two cents of every dollar received from the third stimulus checks. Moreover, not even 25 percent of the money is being spent and the remainder is being used to settle outstanding debts.

For those Americans who do feel a little guilty about getting the latest stimulus check, be aware that there is nothing stopping a person from writing “void” in the endorsement section on the back of the check and then mailing it to an appropriate IRS office. Just make sure to take the time to write a brief explanation stating the reason for returning the funds.

In many cases, the payment was already direct deposited into an individual’s bank account. For this scenario, one just needs to send off a personal check or money order to a local IRS location. Keep in mind to make it payable to “U.S. Treasury” and write “Third EIP” and personal taxpayer identification number—social security number or individual taxpayer identification number—on the check. A brief note will once again be necessary.

However, there will certainly be some instances in which the stimulus check recipients won’t have much say on the matter—this is especially true if an individual has unpaid debts that are considered long overdue.

For the current round of $1,400 checks sent out under President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, taxpayers should know that the funds cannot be garnished for unpaid federal debts or back taxes. But do take note that they can be garnished for unpaid private debts, which can include credit card debts and overdue hospital bills. Taxpayers should understand that a garnishment is a court order that allows for money to be removed from an individual’s bank account—and banks generally have to comply with a court’s demands.

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. This article first appeared last year.

Image: Reuters.