|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has announced plans to issue
automatic payments to eligible taxpayers who did not claim the
Recovery Rebate Credit on their 2021 tax returns. This move comes
after the agency found that approximately 1 million taxpayers did not
claim the pandemic-related credit when they were eligible to receive it.
IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel stated that the agency is committed
to helping taxpayers and making improvements. The automatic
payments will be made before the end of December to minimize
headaches for eligible taxpayers who may have overlooked claiming
the credit.
Most taxpayers who were eligible for the Recovery Rebate Credit or
for one or more stimulus payments have already received those
credits and payments. The special payments announced by the IRS
are for qualified taxpayers who filed a 2021 tax return with the data
field for the Recovery Rebate Credit left blank or filled out as $0 when
they were actually eligible for the credit.
The amounts of the Recovery Rebate Credit payments vary based on
several factors, with the maximum payment being $1,400 per
individual. The total amount of payments to be distributed is estimated
to be around $2.4 billion.
Taxpayers who did not claim the credit on their 2021 tax return are
expected to receive the payments from the IRS by late January 2025.
The payment will be sent to the bank account listed on the taxpayer’s
2023 tax return or to their address of record.
There is a looming deadline in the first half of 2025 for taxpayers who
have not filed their 2021 tax returns. They must file by April 15 to still
receive a Recovery Rebate Credit that they are eligible for. The IRS
will include a letter with the payment, and if a taxpayer has closed the
bank account associated with their 2023 tax return, the bank will
return the payment to the IRS for reissuance to the taxpayer’s address
of record.
