The U.S. government has issued a new set of $1,400 stimulus checks, and this time Veterans Affairs beneficiaries were included.
The latest round marks the fifth batch of direct payments sent since the $1,400 checks were first authorized by Congress through the American Rescue Plan Act in March.
The latest payments bring the number to about 159 million recipients, for a total of more than $376 billion.
The new round includes approximately 2 million stimulus checks for a total of more than $3.4 billion.
This time, the checks include Veterans Affairs beneficiaries who receive Compensation and Pension benefits who do not normally file tax returns and who did not use the IRS non-filer tool last year.
More than 320,000 payments were issued to those beneficiaries for a total of about $450 million.
Social Security beneficiaries who also did not file tax returns for the past two years and who did not use the non filer tool were also among the recipients. About 72,000 checks went to those people.
In addition, people who recently filed tax returns in order to get their information on file were also among the recipients of the new checks. Almost 850,000 payments worth about $1.6 billion went to them.
How to get a bigger stimulus check using your tax return
The new round also included “plus-up” payments for those who are due more money now that their 2020 tax returns have been processed. Those payments totaled more than $1.2 billion.
In total, the fifth batch of payments included about 1.2 million direct deposit payments and almost 800,000 paper checks.
The payments had an official payment date of Wednesday, April 14. However, the money could have arrived earlier for some people, as the checks began processing on Friday, April 9.
Most people do not need to do anything in order to get a stimulus check. However, the IRS is urging some people to file a tax return in order to receive the money for which they are eligible.
That includes federal beneficiaries who need to submit information on any dependents who may qualify for the money, as well as people who do not normally file tax returns nor receive federal benefits.
If your income is $72,000 or less, you can file your tax return for free using the IRS Free File program.
Filing a 2020 tax return will also enable you to claim a recovery rebate credit if you missed out on the previous $1,200 or $600 stimulus checks.
