If you don’t file federal income taxes, it’s not too late to sign up for a coronavirus stimulus check.
Non-filers have until Oct. 15 to submit their information to the government so that it can determine their eligibility for a direct stimulus payment, the IRS said Wednesday. They can do so through the online portal that the IRS launched in April allowing those who don’t file income taxes to apply for an “economic impact payment,” as it’s known.
While taxpayers and Social Security beneficiaries were automatically enrolled for stimulus checks—part of Congress’s $2.2 trillion coronavirus aid package—many low-income Americans who are eligible but do not file taxes have had to sign up themselves. Those include individuals who earn less than $12,000 per year and married couples who earn less than $24,400 combined—so long as they have a valid Social Security number and are not claimed as a dependent by another taxpayer.
Anyone who registers through the non-filers portal by the Oct. 15 deadline will receive their stimulus payment by the end of the year, according to the IRS. The agency added that it will be conducting an “extensive outreach and education effort” over the next several months to inform non-filers—including those who are homeless, in economically underserved communities, and in non-English language households—of their potential eligibility for a payment.
More than 159 million Americans have received nearly $267 billion worth of economic impact payments to date, per the IRS. Of those, roughly 120 million individuals received their payments via direct deposit, with 35 million receiving paper checks and 4 million payments being made in the form of prepaid debit cards.
With Congress said to be considering a followup stimulus package to aid American households and businesses through the coronavirus pandemic, it’s possible that a second round of direct payments could be on the way later this year.
