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A complete guide to COVID-19 financial relief

In March, Americans started receiving the third and latest round of federal COVID-19 financial relief through the Economic Impact Payments (EIP) distributed through the American Rescue Plan. Yet, millions of eligible individuals still haven’t received the first and second payments – and likely won’t receive the third – unless they file a 2020 tax return or tax extension by May 17, 2021.*

*Now that the regular filing deadline of May 17, 2021 has passed you can still file a 2020 return after the filing deadline, and if you have no balance due to the IRS, there will be no penalties for filing late.

Our updated webpage provides a comprehensive overview of all three EIP payments and commonly asked questions, including how much you’re eligible to receive, how to claim your payments, how to choose whether or not to change your dependent status, and how to talk with your bank or credit union if they’ve used your payments to cover overdrawn accounts due to fees or purchases.

Key features of the latest round of Economic Impact Payments

  • Provides for a payment of $1,400 for a single individual or $2,800 for a married couple and $1,400 per dependent
  • Expands qualifying dependents to including those under the age of 19, college students under the age of 24, and adults with disabilities
  • Broadens eligibility to all individuals and dependents with a Social Security number, including those without a work authorization.

Claiming your payments

If you haven’t received the first and second COVID-19 stimulus payments – or haven’t claimed the full amount for which you are eligible – you must file a 2020 tax return and claim the Recovery Rebate Credit in order to claim those payments. Filing a 2020 tax return will also give the IRS the information it needs to send you the third round of payments.

Filing your taxes provides the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) with your contact and banking account information, and you may also be eligible for additional tax credits, including the Child Tax Credit and Earned Income Tax Credit.

Based on your income, there are also a number of free or low-costs services and software to help assist you with tax preparation.

Now that the regular filing deadline of May 17, 2021 has passed you can still file a 2020 return after the filing deadline, and if you have no balance due to the IRS, there will be no penalties for filing late.

Learn more about claiming your payment.

View our compete guide to COVID-19 Economic Impact Payments.

Find more information regarding COVID-19 from CFPB

We’re working to continuously update information for consumers during this rapidly evolving situation.

We will publish all COVID-19-related information and blogs to our resource page. Information should be considered accurate as of the blog publish date.

See our COVID-19 resource page

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