The IRS is using the information they have on file to automatically send out a stimulus check for people receiving federal benefits.
Federal benefit recipients who file a 2019 or 2020 tax return or who used the 2020 non-filing tool may have already received a stimulus payment or get one through the batches the Internal Revenue Service is sending out.
For most others, payments began being sent April 7 via direct deposit or Direct Express card. For those receiving payments by mail, those checks began mailing on April 9.
If you have a foreign address and do not file a tax return, electronic payments went out around April 21 and paper checks on April 23.
However, veterans who do not file taxes normally should have received their payment by April 14, the IRS reported.
The IRS and Treasury will use the information they have on file to automatically send you a stimulus check, even if you didn’t file a return. People who have already filed a 2020 tax return this year to claim missing stimulus check money may find that the IRS will use this information instead of your 2019 details if it has processed your last return.
Some people may need to file a 2020 tax return, even if they don’t usually file, so that the IRS has all the information it needs to send payments to cover their eligible dependents.
What should you do if your stimulus check still hasn’t arrived?
If there is a problem with your stimulus check the SSA and VA will refer you to the IRS. However, the IRS does not want you to call if you have a problem with your payment and notes on their FAQ pages that the phone staff does not have additional information beyond what is available in the IRS tracking tool.
So you may have to track your payment through the IRS’s Get My Payment tool.