Five Million Stimulus Checks Still Unclaimed
After all the talk about the economic stimulus package you would think that every American with the right to money would have jumped at the opportunity by now. But guess what? This has not been the case. In fact, there are five million stimulus checks that have yet to be claimed. As you can imagine, this means that there are tens of millions of dollars hanging out there waiting to be sent to consumers.
Who are the people that have yet to claim their money? The IRS has reported that approximately 25 percent of those who receive veterans’ benefits and Social Security, and do not usually file a final return, have yet to fill out the proper paperwork to receive their check.
In March, the IRS sent information to nearly 20 million Americans who fit into this category. Only 15 million of them have taken the proper steps of filing a return.
As of June 13, the IRS had sent out more than $63 billion in stimulus checks to approximately 75 million Americans. By July 11, the total number of checks is expected to reach 110 million. That being said, in order to be eligible to receive a payment consumers must file a return. This is where the five million people noted above are missing the boat. Under normal circumstances these people would not be required to file a final income tax return. And while they do not have to do so for 2007, this will result in missing out on some free money from the government.
Those who have yet to claim their stimulus check can still file a final return. That being said, time is quickly running out for these five million Americans.




