Mnuchin Says Treasury May Relax Stimulus Check Deadline

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told a Senate panel Thursday that he will determine whether an Oct. 15 Internal Revenue Service deadline can be waived in order to give 9 million nonfilers more time to claim their $1,200 pandemic relief payments.

In testimony before the Senate Banking Committee, Mnuchin promised to explore actions the U.S. Department of the Treasury can take to help very low-income Americans who don't usually need to file taxes but qualify for the economic impact payments. Those were authorized by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act.  which President Donald Trump signed into law in March.

In response to questioning from Democratic Sens. Doug Jones of Alabama and Tina Smith of Minnesota, Mnuchin indicated that he was open to allowing more time for nonfilers, especially those who are homeless and those who have lost their employment because of the pandemic.

"Let me go back and see if we have the availability to do that," Mnuchin told Jones, who sought relief for about 150,000 Alabamians who he said were likely to miss the Oct. 15 deadline.

Jones said he wants Treasury to push the deadline back to December.

Under the CARES Act, the IRS has already sent payments to 160 million Americans. Individuals received $1,200, and couples filing joint tax returns received $2,400. There were additional $500 payments for dependent children.

This month, the IRS sent letters urging those who were left out to use its nonfiler tool to claim their payments by Oct. 15. Those who miss the cutoff could claim it as a credit on their 2020 federal income tax return by filing in 2021, the IRS said. 

Smith said she received a letter from Mnuchin on Wednesday saying Treasury is working to get economic impact payments into the hands of homeless Minnesotans and those living in shelters in the state and nationwide.

"You said in the letter that I received last night that you have some special tools that you're working on," Smith said. "I know about your nonfilers website, but a lot of the folks that I talked to didn't have access to that website, so what do we do?"

Mnuchin promised to explore the issue, noting that the department wants to help the homeless get their payments.

"I think the best way to do that is to work with community organizations that hopefully can help them facilitate obviously what we can do," he said.

The department doesn't have a specific count of homeless Americans who haven't received their payments, he said.

--Editing by Neil Cohen.

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