Up to 10 million people might still be entitled to get a COVID-19 stimulus payment, the government's internal watchdog said Tuesday.
Low-income Americans who are not required to pay taxes have until Nov. 15 to complete a simplified tax return to get their stimulus checks, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in a blog post, The Hill reported.
"Throughout the pandemic, IRS and Treasury struggled to get COVID-relief payments into the hands of some people — especially those with lower-incomes, limited internet access, or experiencing homelessness," according to the GAO. "Based on IRS and Treasury data, there could be between 9-10 million eligible individuals who have not yet received those payments."
The government provided relief in the amount of $931 billion over several stimulus payments to help with the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. Three rounds of payments benefited an estimated 165 million eligible Americans, GAO noted. Generally, U.S. citizens with income below $75,000 or married couples with an income below $150,000 were eligible for all three payments and the full amount of each payment.
"Part of the challenge for the IRS and Treasury in 2020 was they only had data on taxpayers that had previously filed taxes," according to GAO. "Since a broader set of families were eligible for the COVID-19 stimulus payments and the expanded CTC, Treasury, and IRS reached out to around 9 million Americans to let them know they were eligible for the relief payments. In May 2021, the Treasury Inspector General identified potentially 10 million individuals eligible for payments. As of June, IRS had no plans to conduct additional outreach."
The added duties for the IRS might also have resulted in the stimulus delivery shortage for up to 10 million Americans.
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