Here's What You Need to Remember: Last month, the IRS acknowledged that it had yet to complete 1.5 million individual tax returns received last year—but admitted that they are in the “processing pipeline.”

Amid the current tax season, the Internal Revenue Service is saddled with the unenviable chore of pulling double duty, as it is responsible for sending out to eligible Americans both tax refunds and the latest $1,400 coronavirus stimulus checks under President Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan.

There is, however, another large-scale task that the agency is now responsible for, and that is to disburse roughly five million “plus-up” or supplemental checks. Not surprisingly, the IRS reportedly has been beset by delays in sending out these funds.

These particular payments, according to the IRS, aim to target “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.”

It is estimated that the IRS will ultimately deliver $1.2 billion worth of these supplemental payments to U.S. taxpayers in the coming weeks or months.

As with the regular stimulus payments, taxpayers who electronically file and receive their refunds via direct deposits have received their “plus-up” payments more quickly than those filing traditional paper returns.

Take note that for weeks, the government has been urging Americans who do not receive federal benefits or typically file tax returns to submit one as soon as possible in order to provide their payment information to receive the stimulus cash.

For taxpayers who have been forced to sit on the sidelines for this round of stimulus payments and would like to have a status update, know that they can always log on to the IRS “Get My Payment” tool at www.irs.gov/coronavirus/get-my-payment.

Moreover, even with Tax Day now extended to May 17, there have been reports of tax refunds being delayed as well. Currently, the average wait time for a refund has been about six to eight weeks, which is much longer than the typical wait time of three weeks or less.

Last month, the IRS acknowledged that it had yet to complete 1.5 million individual tax returns received last year—but admitted that they are in the “processing pipeline.” And according to the National Taxpayer Advocate, the IRS is holding nearly thirty million tax returns for manual processing, which is likely further delaying the refunds.

Also, keep in mind that if one still hasn’t received one or both of the checks from the first two stimulus rounds, they can still be claimed by May 17. Just make sure to take advantage of the Recovery Rebate Credit that has been added to all tax returns 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. This article first appeared earlier this year.

Image: Reuters.