Americans are running out of time to claim a $1,400 stimulus check.
Tuesday marks Tax Day as well as the three-year deadline to claim tax refunds and credits for the year 2021. That includes the $1,400 Recovery Rebate Credit, which some still haven’t filed for and received.
Why It Matters
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal government approved several rounds of stimulus payments to Americans as they navigated economic uncertainty.
However, many never claimed the payments if they did not file for 2021 taxes. This included Americans who were not required to file but still qualified for the payment.
What To Know
Those who qualify for the $1,400 stimulus check have until tomorrow, April 15, to file for the payment. At that point, the money will go back to the Treasury and they will miss out on it for good.
To earn the check, you must file for 2021 taxes, so you’ll need all W-2 and other employment and income forms regarding that tax year.
If you did file in 2021 but did not claim the Recovery Rebate Credit, you also could qualify to earn the check. Though, in December, the IRS said it would send out a total of $2.4 billion in “special payments” to 1 million people who did not claim federal stimulus checks on their tax returns for 2021. People who were eligible to receive the payment did so automatically, and didn’t need to do anything. They should have received the payment by the end of December or by late January 2025.
For those who file by the proper deadline, the money will be sent either by paper check or deposited using the banking information taxpayers used on their 2024 tax returns.
The specific amount a person gets will vary depending on their adjusted gross income. The full $1,400 is available as long as a person’s adjusted gross income was no more than $75,000 in 2021.
For married couples, that amount goes up to $150,000 for the tax year 2021.
What People Are Saying
Kevin Thompson, a finance expert and the founder and CEO of 9i Capital Group, previously told Newsweek: “The most important thing about the Recovery Rebate Credit is that it’s refundable—meaning you can get the credit even if you don’t owe taxes. Most credits and rebates only reduce your taxable income to zero, but refundable credits go beyond what you owe, and the extra amount comes back to you as a refund.”
Alex Beene, a financial literacy instructor for the University of Tennessee at Martin, previously told Newsweek: “While it’s inconceivable to millions of Americans who received stimulus checks during the pandemic, there are still a small group of taxpayers who qualified for payments who never received them.”
What Happens Next
After April 15, taxpayers will forfeit the stimulus check money and it will be returned back to the U.S. Treasury.
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