Federal Stimulus Check Payments $600 $1,200 and $1,400 – u.s. Stimulus Checks Payouts.The Treasury’s Inspector General for Tax Administration, overseeing the IRS, recently disclosed that approximately 3 million Americans might be entitled to a portion of the $4.7 billion in unclaimed Recovery Rebate Credits. It’s staggering to consider that within the U.S., nearly 3 million people haven’t yet accessed their federal stimulus payment, designed to cushion the economic blow of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2021.
Federal Stimulus Check Payments $600 $1,200 and $1,400 – u.s. Stimulus Checks Payouts
This insight was derived from an official document unveiled in August 2023. The document highlighted that under the American Rescue Plan, the U.S. government disbursed over $930 billion in direct financial assistance. This was distributed via three separate payments: two during President Donald Trump’s administration – the initial $1,200 and the subsequent $600, followed by a $1,400 payment under President Joe Biden.
Claiming Your Unclaimed Stimulus
According to the TIGTA report, the 3 million Americans yet to claim their stimulus had filed their 2021 taxes but overlooked the Recovery Rebate Credit application. To address this oversight, the IRS sent out Letter 6475 through conventional mail in January 2022, notifying potential beneficiaries of their eligibility for the full $1,400 stimulus from the third installment.
The funds allocated to eligible Americans were part of a comprehensive tax refund termed the Recovery Rebate Credit, overseen by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
To stake a claim, individuals must complete the relevant section of their primary tax document concerning the Recovery Rebate Credit. It’s crucial to act within a three-year window; otherwise, the opportunity will be lost. Thus, the last chance to claim this 2021 credit is during the 2024 fiscal year, with the final submission deadline in spring 2025. Ensure you have your 2021 income details on hand for this process.
Understanding the Recovery Rebate Credit
The Recovery Rebate Credit, sanctioned by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, was devised to offer financial relief to qualified citizens through advanced Economic Impact Payments (commonly known as stimulus payments) disbursed in 2020 and early 2021. If you didn’t obtain the full amount you were eligible for, you could have claimed it as a refundable credit on your 2020 and/or 2021 tax returns.
Being a refundable tax credit, the Recovery Rebate Credit could either augment your tax refund or reduce your tax liability. Even if you had no tax dues, you would still receive a tax refund equivalent to the amount owed from these stimulus payments.
Decoding Letter 6475
Letter 6475, labeled “Your Third Economic Impact Payment”, is an IRS-issued document for those who procured the third stimulus check in 2021, inclusive of plus-up payments. Dispatched in late January of the succeeding year, this letter specifies the stimulus amount received in 2021.
Its purpose is to notify recipients about their eligibility to claim the Recovery Rebate Credit on their 2021 tax return when filed in 2022. If a recipient got less than the full third stimulus amount or didn’t get the third payment altogether, the credit would either reduce their 2021 tax liability or be added to their refund.
Those who received the third Economic Impact Payment should have also received Letter 6475. However, if you missed out on the third stimulus payment, you wouldn’t have received Letter 6475. In such cases, you’d need to set up an IRS online account to view your economic impact payments.