IRS Deadline to Claim $1,400 Stimulus Check From 2021 Is Tuesday

Most taxpayers eligible for the 2021 American Rescue Plan Act stimulus payments have already received them, the agency has said.

A stimulus check issued by the IRS is seen in San Antonio, Texas, on April 23, 2020. Eric Gay/AP Photo File

The deadline for Americans to claim a COVID-19 pandemic-era stimulus payment worth $1,400 is Tuesday, the Internal Revenue Service has said.

April 15 marks Tax Day along with the three-year deadline to claim the 2021 tax credits and refunds, including the $1,400 stimulus payment that was sent out to millions of Americans. Some Americans still have not received or filed for that payment.

The IRS has a three-year deadline to claim a refund on tax returns. Taxpayers risk losing their refund for a specific year if they don’t file by the deadline.

A separate statement released by the IRS on April 11 said that the deadline for taxpayers to file and receive their 2021 stimulus checks, called a Recovery Rebate Credit, was quickly approaching.

“Time is running out to file a tax return and claim their money,” the tax revenue agency said. “The Recovery Rebate Credit is a refundable credit for individuals who did not receive one or more Economic Impact Payments, also known as stimulus payments, distributed in 2021.”

Most taxpayers eligible for the stimulus checks have already received them, the agency said.

During the pandemic, Congress passed multiple rounds of stimulus payments in a bid to offset economic issues caused by the government’s response to COVID-19, including the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, which included the third and final stimulus checks.

The IRS said earlier this year that it started issuing payments to eligible people who didn’t claim the payments on their 2021 tax returns. The payments were issued in December 2024 and January 2025 to about 1 million Americans who didn’t receive the checks, it said.

“All payments should be received by late January 2025, and taxpayers do not need to take any action to receive these payments,” the IRS said in a statement, adding that “the payment will be sent to the bank account listed on the taxpayer’s 2023 tax return or to the address of record.”

The IRS stipulated that all remaining taxpayers who have not filed their 2021 taxes to date but who may still be eligible for the $1,400 payment “must file a 2021 tax return by April 15, 2025, to claim the credit and any other refund they might be owed, even if their income from a job, business or other source was minimal or non-existent.”

The payments that started going out in December 2024 “are only going to taxpayers where IRS data demonstrates a taxpayer qualifies for the credit,”  the IRS added. “Qualified taxpayers are those who filed a 2021 tax return, but where the data field for the Recovery Rebate Credit was left blank or was filled out as $0 when the taxpayer was actually eligible for the credit.”

The 2021 stimulus amount is contingent on the adjusted gross income of a taxpayer or joint filers. Taxpayers’ annual income must not have been more than $75,000 to single filers or $150,000 for married couples who filed joint returns for that year, the IRS said.

In 2020 during the pandemic, the IRS sent out two stimulus payments known as Economic Impact Payments. Taxpayers are no longer eligible to receive those payments due to the three-year deadline for filing tax returns.

April 15 is also the deadline for most taxpayers to file their tax returns for 2024, although some Americans in areas impacted by recent natural disasters can file at a later date.