Here’s Who May Be Eligible For The IRS $1,400 Stimulus Check Payment
Time is almost up to claim a missing $1,400 stimulus check from 2021. Millions of Americans received this third-round Economic Impact Payment under the American Rescue Plan, but some eligible people never received their money. The IRS estimates about 1.1 million taxpayers have unclaimed 2021 refunds – including missed stimulus checks – worth around $1 billion. As I noted in a previous Forbes post, April 15, 2025, is the final deadline to file a 2021 tax return and get any unpaid pandemic relief before it’s forfeited to the U.S. Treasury. Some may be wondering if they are eligible for the $1,400 payment.
Below is a detailed breakdown of who may qualify for the $1,400 rebate; however, in short, you may be eligible if you meet two conditions. First, you qualified for the $1,400 third stimulus check back in 2021. Second, you have not yet received the payment either as a stimulus check, a payment from the IRS, or a credit on your taxes.
Who Qualified For The $1,400 Third Stimulus Check?
The third stimulus check, which was officially known as the third Economic Impact Payment, provided up to $1,400 per person in 2021. The American Rescue Plan Act determined eligibility rules using income and other criteria:
Stimulus Check Income Limits: Individuals who filed as single (or married filing separately) qualified for the full $1,400 with adjusted gross income up to $75,000. Married couples filing jointly were eligible with AGI up to $150,000, and heads of household up to $112,500. Above those levels, the payment phased out quickly: singles received no stimulus if income reached $80,000, heads of household at $120,000, and joint filers at $160,000. For example, a single filer with $77,000 AGI would get a partial check, while one with $85,000 received nothing.
Citizenship/Residency: To qualify, you had to be a U.S. citizen or resident alien in 2021. Nonresident aliens were not eligible.
Social Security Number: Generally, you (and your spouse if filing jointly) need a valid Social Security Number. Dependents claimed for the stimulus also required a valid SSN or an Adoption Taxpayer ID Number. (Notably, if one spouse didn’t have an SSN, the other spouse could still get their $1,400 if they had one, and any qualifying children with SSNs or ATINs could get $1,400 each).
Not a Dependent: You cannot have been claimed as someone else’s dependent on a 2021 tax return. This meant college students or adult dependents did not get their $1,400 check if a parent or someone claimed them. Instead, the taxpayer claiming them would get the $1,400 for that dependent.
Eligible Dependents: All qualifying dependents were covered. Each dependent of an eligible taxpayer was worth another $1,400 in the third stimulus, regardless of age. For example, a family of four (two parents, two kids) could receive $5,600 if within income limits. Newborns or new dependents in 2021 also qualified for $1,400, but only if you claimed them on a 2021 tax return.
In short, most Americans under the income caps, with an SSN, and not claimed as a dependent qualified for the $1,400 stimulus. This included retirees, veterans, unemployed individuals, and others; even if you had little or no income, you were eligible as long as you met the criteria (this is different from the potential DOGE dividend checks that have been discussed the past few months, where income and tax return filing were potential eligibility criteria).
However, there is a difference between being ineligible and simply not receiving a payment despite being eligible. Many Americans qualified but never got the money initially, often due to not filing tax returns or other overlooked issues.
Eligibility For The $1,400 Stimulus Check Is Also Dependent On Whether Or Not You Already Received Payment
Even if you met the eligibility rules, you might have missed the automatic payment in 2021. Why did that happen? A few common reasons:
You Never Filed a 2020 or 2021 Tax Return: The IRS mostly relied on tax returns (2019 or 2020 filings) to send out third-round checks. If you didn’t file a 2020 or 2021 tax return and weren’t receiving federal benefits (like Social Security) that the IRS could use as a reference, the IRS may not have had your information on file. Many low-income individuals, veterans, or others not required to file taxes were overlooked. These folks were eligible, but the IRS had no address or bank info to send the money. They could claim it later via a tax return (as a credit), but not everyone realized that. Individuals in this group may be the most likely to be eligible for the $1,400 stimulus check payment.
Income or Family Changes in 2021: The third stimulus was initially calculated using prior data. If your 2021 income dropped below the threshold (making you eligible) but your 2020 income was too high, you wouldn’t have gotten the payment automatically. Or if you had a baby or added a dependent in 2021, the IRS didn’t know to send that extra $1,400 for the new family member. In these cases, you became eligible based on 2021 info, but you’d only get the money by claiming the credit on a 2021 tax return.
Mistakes or Missed Fields on Tax Return: Surprisingly, about 1 million taxpayers who did file 2021 tax returns failed to claim the Recovery Rebate Credit even though they were eligible. They may have left the credit line blank or entered $0 by mistake. The IRS discovered this error in its reviews. Rather than making everyone file amended returns, the IRS announced in late 2024 that it would automatically send payments (up to $1,400) to those 1 million taxpayers who overlooked the credit. Those correction payments, totaling $2.4 billion, were issued by check or direct deposit in December 2024 and January 2025. If you were in that group, you might have already received your missing money by early 2025 without taking further action. If that is the case, you are likely not eligible for an additional payment.
Payment Delivery Issues: Sometimes, the IRS sent a stimulus check that got lost, returned, or not cashed. For example, if you changed addresses or bank accounts and the payment didn’t reach you or was misdirected, you might not have received it. That money could still be claimed via the tax credit if the IRS shows you never cashed the check.
The Upshot For The IRS $1,400 Stimulus Check Eligibility
If you qualified but didn’t get the $1,400 stimulus check in 2021, the government set up a fail-safe in the form of the 2021 Recovery Rebate Credit. It’s essentially a tax credit equal to any stimulus amount you were entitled to but didn’t receive. Eligible people who missed out initially can still get their money. Claiming the $1,400 now requires filing (or amending) a 2021 tax return to include the Recovery Rebate Credit. You need to act fast because the deadline of April 15 is fast approaching.