ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10)- The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has a message for people who usually don’t file their taxes and haven’t received an Economic Impact Payment (EIP). They may be missing out on additional money.
The IRS is encouraging people to file their taxes, even if they don’t normally so they get all benefits and tax credits they’re allowed. Filing will also help the IRS identify people eligible for the 2021 Child Tax Credit being distributed this summer.
Time is running out for people to file their taxes, the deadline is May 17. There are a number of ways New Yorkers can file their taxes for free. TaxAct, TaxSlayer, and TurboTax all make filing for state and federal taxes easy for users.
To help ease the financial burden felt last year because of the COVID pandemic, the Federal government sent out $271.4 billion in EIP’s to American households. In New York 9.8 million payments were made in the amount of $15.5 billion, the fourth-highest amount in the nation.
The greatest amount of EIP money went to California, which received $28.9 billion. Texas received the second greatest amount, $22.3 billion. New York neighboring states of Massachusetts and Vermont received $5.2 billion and $570 million respectively.
| No. | State | Number of payments | Total amount |
| 1 | California | 17,692,203 | $28.9B |
| 2 | Texas | 12,911,896 | $22.3B |
| 3 | Florida | 11,055,881 | $18.1B |
| 4 | New York | 9,735,946 | $15.5B |
| 5 | Pennsylvania | 6,506,611 | $10.9B |
| 6 | Ohio | 6,059,063 | $10.1B |
| 7 | Illinois | 5,948,558 | $9.9B |
| 8 | North Carolina | 5,045,198 | $8.5B |
| 9 | Michigan | 5,001,815 | $8.5B |
| 10 | Georgia | 4,995,205 | $8.4B |
The New York State Comptroller’s Office released an analysis of EIP money received by New York residents. One in five payments under the CARES Act (Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security) and COVID-Related Tax Relief went to families with children.
Additional information about EIP’s and tax credits can be found on the IRS’s website.
