IRS stimulus checks: The government is sending out automatic payments this month. Here’s how to know if you’ll get one

This month, the IRS is sending out stimulus checks worth up to $1,400 each to about one million taxpayers. The checks are part of the COVID-era stimulus payments authorized by Congress to help financially struggling Americans during the height of the pandemic. Here’s what you need to know about the stimulus checks and whether you are eligible.

What are these stimulus checks for?

These stimulus checks aren’t for anything new. Instead, they are checks that should have been previously sent to eligible taxpayers, but due to how those taxpayers filled out their 2021 federal tax returns, they did not receive the stimulus money they were owed.

In short, individuals did not take advantage of what is known as the Recovery Rebate Credit on their 2021 tax return, which was a credit that would allow them to receive funds for any stimulus check they missed out on. Most individuals who missed out on the Recovery Rebate Credit did so because they inadvertently left the section blank on their 2021 tax return or entered the wrong information there.

The original stimulus checks were officially known as Economic Impact Payments (EIP).

Am I eligible for the Recovery Rebate Credit stimulus check?

Of course, what most people want to know is whether they are eligible for a free payment from the IRS this month when the agency sends out payments for the missing stimulus checks.

Whether you are eligible depends on whether you were eligible for the three COVID-era stimulus checks but did not receive one or more of them, and you also failed to fill out the Recovery Rebate Credit field on your 2021 tax return or incorrectly entered “0” when you were really eligible for the credit, according to the Associated Press.

If both these things are true, then you may be one of the estimated one million taxpayers who will receive a stimulus check from the IRS this month.

Do I have to file an amended 2021 tax return to get the Recovery Rebate Credit stimulus check?

Good news: No, you don’t. Usually, missing a credit on a tax return would necessitate filing an amended return if you wanted to receive the credit after the fact. But given that the IRS discovered that around one million Americans missed the Recovery Rebate Credit on their 2021 return, they’ve decided to make it as easy as possible for those taxpayers to receive their missing credit.

“Looking at our internal data, we realized that one million taxpayers overlooked claiming this complex credit when they were actually eligible,” IRS Commissioner Danny Werfe said in a December statement. “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.”

So I don’t have to do anything to get the stimulus check?

As long as you’ve previously filed your 2021 federal tax return and are due the Recovery Rebate Credit, no, you don’t need to do anything to receive it.

“In December 2024, the IRS began issuing payments to eligible people who did not claim the Recovery Rebate Credit on their 2021 tax returns,” the IRS says. “All payments should be received by late January 2025, and taxpayers do not need to take any action to receive these payments.”

However, if you have not filed your 2021 tax return yet and are eligible for the Recovery Rebate Credit, you’ll first need to file your return. But the IRS warns that those individuals “face an April 15, 2025 deadline to file their returns to claim the credit and any other refund they might be owed.”

In total, the IRS says it expects to send around $2.4 billion in payments to the approximately one million taxpayers who missed out on the Recovery Rebate Credit that was due to them.