Stimulus Check 2025 Update: Why the IRS Might Send You Money

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Key Points and Summary: A fourth round of direct government stimulus checks isn’t on the horizon, despite earlier speculation. Still, roughly one million Americans who never claimed certain pandemic relief could see unexpected payments by late January 2025.

-The IRS is issuing these refunds automatically, targeting individuals who were eligible for the 2021 Recovery Rebate Credit but never claimed it on their tax returns. Totals could reach $2.4 billion, far less than the $814 billion in previous stimulus outlays.

-The IRS urges those who never filed a 2021 return to do so before the April deadline, ensuring they don’t miss out on unclaimed benefits.

“No More Stimulus Checks? 1 Million Americans Can Still Get Paid in 2025”

Stimulus checks may seem like a concept from an earlier era of America when the nation remained in the grip of the COVID pandemic. 

There were three rounds of the checks that were distributed to most Americans by the federal government during that period, one in March of 2020, a second in December of 2020 — both during the first Trump Administration — and a third in the spring of 2021, once the Biden Administration had taken over. 

There were no further rounds of federal stimulus checks after that, despite some pushes from the progressive wing of the Democratic Party, and some states distributed their own version of the checks. A bipartisan consensus soon emerged that the stimulus, along with some other measures taken in the pandemic era, had been inflationary. 

The idea of more stimulus checks was not raised at any point during the 2024 presidential election, and of the various economic items on the docket for the second Trump presidency, the distribution of direct checks does not appear to be under consideration. 

However, it turns out that some Americans remain eligible for a stimulus check in 2025- provided that they never claimed their stimulus check when they were first eligible in 2021. 

In a statement on December 20, the IRS laid out how it will work. 

Automatic payments were issued in late December to “eligible people who did not claim the Recovery Rebate Credit on their 2021 tax returns.” The IRS took this step after “reviewing internal data showing many eligible taxpayers who filed a return but did not claim the credit.” 

Per the agency, the payments were automatically issued to 1 million Americans in late December, although not everyone received their payment yet; the checks “should arrive in most cases by late January 2025.” Those payments will total $2.4 billion, which sounds like a lot, but the total amount of money sent out in pandemic stimulus, according to one estimate, was $814 billion. The total expenditures from each of the big COVID rescue packages, the 2020 CARES Act and the 2021 American Rescue Plan were each in the trillions. 

The payments were set to go to “the bank account listed on the taxpayer’s 2023 tax return or to the address of record.”

Even beyond those affected by those payments, the IRS said, those who never filed a 2021 tax return may still be eligible for a refund if they file by the April deadline and claim the Recovery Rebate Credit. 

“The IRS continues to work hard to make improvements and help taxpayers,” IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel said in the late December statement.

 “These payments are an example of our commitment to go the extra mile for taxpayers. Looking at our internal data, we realized that one million taxpayers overlooked claiming this complex credit when they were actually eligible. 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.”

Even if there’s no more stimulus, the IRS is likely to serve as a political battleground in the second Trump presidency. Per a Los Angeles Times op-ed this week, the agency lost $20 billion in funding in the December deal that avoided a government shutdown, and more cuts are likely once Trump and the new Congress are sworn into office. The Biden Administration, in the Inflation Reduction Act, passed new IRS funding, which Congressional Republicans have been trying to claw back ever since. 

U.S. Currency. Image Credit: Creative Commons.

Author Expertise and Experience: Stephen Silver

Stephen Silver is an award-winning journalist, essayist and film critic, and contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. For over a decade, Stephen has authored thousands of articles that focus on politics, technology, and the economy. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) at @StephenSilver, and subscribe to his Substack newsletter