The IRS is issuing a final round of $1,400 stimulus payments to approximately 1 million taxpayers who did not receive them under the 2021 recovery rebate plan. This special disbursement, totaling an estimated $2.4 billion, follows a review that identified eligible recipients who missed out on one or more Economic Impact Payments (EIP). The agency stated that no action is required from recipients, and payments will arrive via direct deposit or check by late January.
Three rounds of EIPs, totaling $4,500 per recipient and approximately $931 billion overall, were distributed between April 2020 and December 2021 as part of the government’s pandemic response. The largest funding source was the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act of 2020, which allocated $1.8 trillion. However, trillions more were spent through other government programs and Treasury Department initiatives. IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel emphasized the agency’s commitment to ensuring taxpayers receive their due payments.
These late payments coincide with ongoing federal investigations into billions of dollars in potentially fraudulent Covid-19 relief funds. In April, the Justice Department’s Covid-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force (CFETF) reported bringing criminal charges against over 3,500 defendants, resulting in over $1.4 billion seized or forfeited. Attorney General Merrick Garland and Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco affirmed their commitment to pursuing these cases and recovering stolen funds, with Monaco advocating for an extension of the statute of limitations to facilitate further recovery and prosecution.