No, the IRS isn’t distributing ‘stimulus checks’ in certain states this month, despite claims online
FILE - In this April 23, 2020, file photo, President Donald Trump’s name is seen on a stimulus check issued by the IRS to help combat the adverse economic effects of the COVID-19 outbreak, in San Antonio. The Associated Press on Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2023, reported on social media posts falsely claiming a another round of stimulus funds is automatically going out to residents in 10 states on Nov. 30. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)
CLAIM: A fourth round of stimulus funds is automatically going out to residents in 10 states on Nov. 30.
AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. The federal government is not releasing another round of stimulus money, the Internal Revenue Service confirmed. The IRS issued three rounds of such payments during the peak of the coronavirus pandemic. The last one went out nationwide nearly two years ago.
THE FACTS: A viral social media post claims taxpayers in some states will be greeted with a welcome surprise as the holiday season starts in earnest: a hefty government check.
The post claims a “4th round” of “stimulus checks” is going out at the end of the month in ten states: Alabama, Arizona, Maryland, New York, Virginia, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Tennessee and Texas.
“If your account information is on file with the IRS, you will automatically get your money deposited into the account they have on file,” reads the widely shared post. “If you received a paper check For your tax refund this year, you will get your stimulus. So if you moved & they don’t have a new address that’s your business.”
The post goes on to claim that the payments will range from $500 to $2,000 depending on the state. It also cites its purported sources as “google & IRS.”
But there’s no federal largess magically dropping into taxpayer’s accounts this month.
Anthony Burke, a spokesperson for the IRS, confirmed in an email Wednesday that no fourth round of Economic Impact Payments related to the pandemic has been authorized.
The third and most recent round of the payments was included in the American Rescue Plan, which was the nearly $2 trillion stimulus package President Joe Biden signed into law in 2021, Burke noted, citing an IRS press release from January 2022.
Last week, the agency issued a reminder that anyone who missed out on one of the payments can still claim the money, he said.
But to receive funds through the Recovery Rebate Credit, taxpayers need to file a tax return first. The money won’t just automatically be sent to a person’s account, as the social media posts claim.
“The deadlines to file a return and claim the 2020 and 2021 credits are May 17, 2024, and April 15, 2025, respectively,” the IRS explained in its release.
To be sure, some states listed in the social media posts will be issuing tax-related payments in the coming weeks and months.
But those payments have nothing to do with helping stimulate the national economy, as was the purpose of federal stimulus checks issued during the pandemic and the Great Recession of the early 2000s, state officials stressed.
Arizona, for example, sent out rebate checks this month for the state’s Families Tax Rebate program, which was created earlier this year to provide a one-time payment of up to $750 for taxpayers with dependent children.
“We are not sending ‘stimulus’ checks,” Rebecca Wilder, a spokesperson for Arizona’s Department of Revenue, wrote in an email Wednesday. “This is completely unrelated.”
Michigan, meanwhile, has made adjustments to the state’s Earned Income Tax Credit for the 2022 tax year that will result in checks being distributed to some taxpayers in the beginning of 2024, according to Danelle Gittus, a spokesperson for the state Department of Treasury.
“It is not a stimulus or a rebate,” she explained in an email Wednesday. “It is an expansion of the credit which will result in a supplemental check being sent to those who filed for EITC for tax year 2022,” she explained in an email Wednesday, referring to the Earned Income Tax Credit.
And just last month, Virginia began rolling out a one-time tax rebate worth up to $200 for taxpayers filing individually and up to $400 for those filing jointly, according to Macaulay Porter, a spokesperson for Gov. Glenn Youngkin.
A news release from Youngkin’s office says the funds represent more than $900 million in “excess tax revenues” the state is returning to taxpayers, the second consecutive year Virginia has done so.
Finally, three other states mentioned in the posts -- Florida, Texas and Tennessee -- don’t even have a personal income tax, and a review of their tax and revenue websites shows no plans for rebates or stimulus funds.
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This is part of AP’s effort to address widely shared misinformation, including work with outside companies and organizations to add factual context to misleading content that is circulating online. Learn more about fact-checking at AP.
