Stimulus payment delayed? You may need to claim it on tax return

Millions of people have already received their $600 federal stimulus payment. But some Americans will have to wait a bit longer — and may have to file their tax return to collect it.

By law, the IRS said it must issue the stimulus payments by Jan. 15. After that, those who are entitled to a payment must instead claim it as a credit on their 2020 returns.

And some payments that have been sent are bouncing back to the U.S. Treasury. That’s because those payments were directed to inactive or temporary accounts that taxpayers can’t access.

It’s still not clear how many people are missing their money, but tax preparation company Jackson Hewitt said the IRS had sent payments to more than 13 million bank accounts that were no longer open or valid.

The IRS said the timing of the stimulus legislation, which was signed by President Donald Trump on Dec. 27, had created problems. “Because of the speed at which the law required the IRS to issue the second round of Economic Impact Payments, some payments may have been sent to an account that may be closed or no longer active,” the agency said in a statement.

The IRS will not automatically resend payments until they reach the recipient, as it did in the spring. Instead, those who do not receive their payments must recover the money on their 2020 tax return by applying for the Recovery Rebate Credit, which can be found on line 30 of the 2020 Form 1040 or 1040-SR.