Americans still struggling financially may be entitled to additional stimulus payments.
Under the American Rescue Act, various programs have been created to help Americans financially struggling during the pandemic.
Some people missed out of previous payments, or are still waiting and need to claim them.
Between missed stimulus checks and child tax credits, you could claim up to $5,000.
Stimulus payment: COVID-19 support programs worth up to $80,000
Here are two ways to claim stimulus payments you may have missed out on
Stimulus checks
Millions of Americans have become eligible for stimulus payments over the last two years.
The most recent one was the $1,400 check under President Biden.
If your income was below $75,000 individually or $150,000 married, you were eligible.
The checks start to phase out past that threshold and phase out completely at $80,000 for singles and $75,000 for couples.
Stimulus check: Final day of $1,100 stimulus payments
Millions of Americans may have been eligible, but were missed.
The two biggest reasons are because you had a baby in 2021, or you were living abroad.
9 million Americans currently live abroad and only thousands received a payment.
It is also expected that the number of births in 2021 will be similar to births in 2020, which was 3.6 million.
Universal basic income: Applications for $600 open
Child tax credit payments
The American Rescue Act not only provided lump sum payments, but also expanded the child tax credit to $3,600 from $2,000.
It is currently expired, but in 2021 millions of households received monthly payments between July and Dec. worth up to $300.
Some families opted out, while others did not need to file taxes so the IRS didn’t have any information to send the payments.
If you were entitled but did not receive payments, you can claim the entire payment on your 2021 tax return.
IRS: Tax season set to begin Jan. 24, 2022
How to receive your payments
Depending on how much you missed, you could claim as much as $5,000 on your tax return.
If you did not file a tax return in 2021, you’ll need to in 2022 in order to claim the credit and stimulus payment.
Tax returns can be filed beginning Jan. 24.
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