A million taxpayers are set to receive unexpected check from the IRS – are you eligible?

Around one million US taxpayers will automatically receive a one-off payment of up to $1,400 from the IRS in the coming weeks. 

These special payments will either be directly deposited into eligible recipients’ bank accounts or sent as paper checks in the mail. 

A total of $2.4 billion will be sent by the IRS back to taxpayers who did not claim a Recovery Rebate Credit on their 2021 tax returns. 

The credit was available to those who missed one of the COVID stimulus payments or had received less than the full amount, AP reported. 

‘Looking at our internal data, we realized that one million taxpayers overlooked claiming this complex credit when they were actually eligible,’ IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel said on Friday. 

The payments will be sent to those who filed a 2021 tax return but left the Recovery Rebate Credit field blank or who put $0 down when they were in fact eligible to receive the credit. 

If you have not yet filed a 2021 tax return to claim the Recovery Rebate Credit, the deadline is April 15, 2025, according to the IRS.   

Those who will now receive a special payment do not need to take any action and the payments will arrive automatically by late January 2025. 

Payments will be sent to the bank account listed on the taxpayer’s 2023 tax return or  by check to the address IRS has on file. 

The maximum payment is worth $1,400 but the amounts will vary per taxpayer. 

Separate letters will also be sent to the eligible taxpayers notifying them of the special payments. 

Covid stimulus payments came in three rounds, costing the government around $814 billion. 

The checks were designed to help households impacted by the pandemic, and were calculated based on income, tax filing status and number of children or qualifying dependents. 

The first check was sent out in In March 2020 and was worth up to $1,200 per income tax filer and $500 per child.

The second stimulus hit bank accounts in December 2020, individuals received up to $600 per income tax filer and $600 per child.

The final payment was sent in March 2021 under the American Rescue Plan Act, under which individuals received up to $1,400 per income tax filer and $1,400 per child.