As many as 10 million people may still be entitled to receive a COVID-19 stimulus payment, the government’s internal watchdog said yesterday, The Hill reported. Americans with little or no income, who are not required to pay taxes, have until Nov. 15 to complete a simplified tax return in order to get their stimulus checks, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in a blog post. “Throughout the pandemic, IRS and Treasury struggled to get COVID-relief payments into the hands of some people — especially those with lower-incomes, limited internet access, or experiencing homelessness. Based on IRS and Treasury data, there could be between 9-10 million eligible individuals who have not yet received those payments,” the agency said. The GAO found that people who don’t have to file tax returns, first-time filers, mixed-immigrant-status families and people experiencing homelessness were among those likely to have not received a payment owed to them. Over the course of several payments delivered through legislation enacted under both the Trump and Biden administrations, $931 billion went out to Americans to help with the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. However, the GAO described this process as “challenging for the IRS and Treasury.”
