The agencies are looking to reissue the funds or reach out to households that received economic impact payments but did not cash them out, Treasury said. This includes outreach to people who may have mistakenly tossed out prepaid debit cards containing the funds, according to the news release.
Treasury also said that the agencies would create more digital tools for people to claim their payments, and reach out to people who don't speak English or who may not have internet access. Relief legislation passed at the end of 2020 provided for one-time $600 payments for individuals, plus $600 for qualifying children, on top of the $1,200 payments authorized earlier in the year by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act
. Around 100 million payments have been distributed by the IRS using direct deposit, while prepaid debit cards were used to send out around 8 million other payments, according to figures provided by the agency. Treasury said Friday that it is working to obtain more payments for individuals as part of President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief proposal called the American Rescue Plan.
--Additional reporting by Christopher Cole and Stephen Cooper. Editing by Vincent Sherry.
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