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Here’s how to know if you qualify for the $1,400 checks the IRS is sending in January 2025

The IRS found $2.4 billion that still hadn’t been sent out from the third round of covid stimulus checks. Here’s who will be getting the payment this month.

Still time to claim $1,400 stimulus check from IRS

The federal government approved three rounds of Economic Impact Payments during the covid-19 pandemic to help alleviate the financial hardship that Americans across the nation were facing at the time. Better known as stimulus checks, the third and final one was authorized as part of the American Rescue Plan in March 2021 and roughly 169 million American men, women and children, qualified to get up to $1,400 from the IRS.

The tax agency automatically sent out the payments based on information that they had. Those who were not in the IRS’s records were able to claim the payment through the Recovery Rebate Credit when they filed a tax return the following year. However, recently, the IRS announced that it reviewed internal data and realized that one million taxpayers failed to claim the credit that they were eligible to receive.

“To minimize headaches and get this money to eligible taxpayers, we’re making these payments automatic, meaning these people will not be required to go through the extensive process of filing an amended return to receive it,” said IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel.

Those who will be receiving the automatic payments are qualified taxpayers who filed a 2021 tax return but they either left the data field for the Recovery Rebate Credit blank or put $0 even though they were actually eligible for the credit. However, there may still be other taxpayers out there who never filed a 2021 tax return who could still be eligible.

Eligibility to receive $1,400 stimulus check payment from IRS

While most eligible taxpayers already received the 2021 EIP or Recover Rebate, those whose income was minimal or non-existent may not have filed a tax return for that fiscal year. In order to claim the money that they are eligible for those Americans must file a 2021 tax return and claim the Recovery Rebate Credit by the April 15, 2025, deadline.

They may also be eligible for a tax refund for that year if they paid more in taxes than they owed to Uncle Sam or qualified for other refundable tax credits that year like the expanded 2021 Child Tax Credit. It was increased from $2,000 per qualifying child that year to $3,600 for children ages 5 and under at the end of 2021 and $3,000 for children ages 6 through 17 at the end of 2021.

The income requirements for the 2021 Recovery Rebate Credit, third EIP, were the same as those for the other two stimulus checks passed by Congress. A single tax filer must make under $75,000, $112,500 as a Head of Household filer, or less than $150,000 for married couples who file jointly.

However, the phaseout above those thresholds was faster for the third EIP than the previous two rounds, with a cutoff for eligibility at $80,000 for single filers, $120,000 for Head of Household filers, and $160,000 for married couples who file jointly.

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