The Internal Revenue Service is disputing claims that spread on social media last week about $1,390 stimulus checks being mailed to taxpayers.
An IRS official who asked to remain anonymous confirmed to Accounting Today that the rumors are false and pointed to a post pinned to the top of the IRS’s own official @IRStaxpros page on X, saying, “#IRS Warning: Watch out for stimulus check scams. The Recovery Rebate Credit has expired. Monitor http://irs.gov/alerts for more.”
Rumors about the stimulus checks have gained some credibility because the IRS itself was advertising earlier this year the impending end to availability of unclaimed refunds from tax year 2021 of the pandemic-related Recovery Rebate Credit while urging taxpayers to claim them, the Associated Press noted. The average refund, the IRS said in an earlier advisory last December, was for $1,400. However, the deadline to file a claim for those credits ended on April 15 of this year.
Some taxpayers might also be confused by a recent legislative proposal by Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, to send rebate checks to Americans to share revenues from President Trump’s tariff policy. Last month, Hawley introduced the American Worker Rebate Act, which would send rebates amounting to at least $600 per adult and dependent child (for example, $2,400 for a family of four). However, the legislation has not yet advanced in either the Senate or the House. In June, President Trump also said he is considering sending out rebate checks using revenue earned from tariffs.
