The IRS on Wednesday said it is continuing to distribute federal stimulus checks to eligible Americans, with another 2.2 million payments issued as recently as July 21. Some of those payments include "plus-up" adjustments for people who received less money than they were entitled to in earlier checks. The latest round of payments is part of the Biden administration's efforts under the American Rescue Plan to deliver $1,400 to each eligible adult and child. The IRS said it has now delivered more than 171 million payments worth more than $400 billion, with the last batch of checks amounting to more than $4 billion. The tax agency added that it is continuing to issue stimulus checks on a weekly basis. Payments are still going out to people for whom the IRS didn't previously have enough information to issue a check but who recently filed a tax return, as well as for people who qualify for extra money known as "plus-up" payments.
The IRS has said it has sent more "direct relief" via the third stimulus check than compared with the two previous rounds of payments. More than half of the payments have been sent to households earning less than $50,000, while about 1 in 10 stimulus checks were sent to Social Security and other government-aid beneficiaries who aren't required to file a tax return, and to those who used the Non-filer tool on the IRS website, the agency has said. People can still receive their stimulus payments by either filing a 2020 tax return or using the Non-filer tool on the IRS website, which is aimed at people whose incomes aren't high enough to require them to file a tax return, the agency said on Wednesday. People don't need to have children to qualify for the third stimulus check, although the Non-filer tool will also allow people with eligible children to register for the expanded Child Tax Credit program — which began providing monthly payments on July 15 .
While the latest stimulus payments began hitting bank accounts in March, some people have had to wait weeks or months for their checks. That's because the IRS prioritized sending checks to people who had already filed their 2019 or 2020 tax returns, since the agency was able to quickly verify eligibility based on income and also determine where to mail they checks or directly deposit the money in known bank accounts. But some others, such as those who aren't required to file tax returns or who claimed adjustments on their payments, have had to wait for the IRS to process their payments. Among the 2.2 million payments are 1.3 million checks sent to people who recently filed a tax return and for whom the tax agency didn't previously have enough information to issue the money. And another 900,000 payments were for plus-up adjustments for people who qualified for bigger checks based on recently processed 2020 tax returns, the IRS said.
The latest batch of checks comes as 26 states have or will soon end enhanced unemployment aid, cutting of millions of jobless workers from $300 in weekly jobless aid two months before the federal funding is due to expire. About 1 in 4 people on unemployment will lose their benefits from the early cutoff of jobless benefits, according to an estimate from the Century Foundation, a liberal-leaning think tank.
Aimee Picchi is the associate managing editor for CBS MoneyWatch, where she covers business and personal finance. She previously worked at Bloomberg News and has written for national news outlets including USA Today and Consumer Reports.
© 2021 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.