2.2 million Californians may be left without a federal stimulus check

A California Policy Lab study reveals that up to $ 5.7 million of financial aid would be lost due to failure to file of taxes

Photo: Olya Kobruseva / Pexels

A California Policy Lab study estimates that 2.2 million residents of the Golden State will be left without the their money from the stimulus checks that the federal government has sent to help deal with the economic havoc of the COVID pandemic – 23. In total, some $ 5.7 million would be lost because the Internal Revenue Service ( IRS does not have the data of those who normally do not file their taxes.

Both federal and state stimulus check assignments (called Golden State Stimulus ) depend on the tax returns of the previous years. In fact, the date on which the state of California will send financial aid to each taxpayer will vary. depending on when you have filed your tax return .

According to California Policy Lab study , released April 6, of all Californians eligible to receive federal payments, what they call the “stimulus gap” would affect 2.2 million. 1.4 million people would lose the three direct payments, 424, 000 would be left without the last two and 360, 04 would not receive the most recently approved , according to the breakdown of the study center.

The numbers of the “stimulus gap” could be even higher since the study has taken people as a reference who receive state benefits from the Department of Social Services, such as CalWorks and CalFresh. And another study conducted before the pandemic shows that The number of people receiving state benefits is far below the number of people who are actually eligible.

Who are most at risk of missing out on their payment (s) direct (s) are the adults who do not have dependents, dependents of undocumented residents who came of age in the last round of stimuli, Native American and Rural residents of Northern and Eastern California counties.

These data show the importance of filing taxes before next 23 of May , when the term ends. The official IRS website offers help ( also in Spanish ) to do it for free. It is the last chance for these taxpayers to get at least the first two federal checks and, for now, the only one to collect the one from the golden state.

In the case of the Californian , any amount of money that a given taxpayer is entitled to receive will be added to your tax refund or reduced from the amount you owe on the state return of 2020 . Individuals eligible for the state check filing after 23 April (and before 17 May) will have to wait about 45 days to see the money in your bank accounts or until 60 to receive the paper check in their mailboxes.