TENS of millions of hard-pressed Americans are still waiting for their Covid stimulus checks as their bills mount up.
Here are eight potential reasons for the hold-up in them being sent out.
STILL QUALIFY FOR A CHECK?
Before, the thresholds were $100,000 for single taxpayers and $200,000 for couples who file jointly.
Not this time around.
If you earn more than $80,000 annually and couples earning over $160,000 you don’t qualify.
Eligibility for the checks is based on adjusted gross income.
This is a household's taxable income before minusing the standard or itemized deductions.
IRS IS SNOWED UNDER?
It could because the IRS is engulfed in the perfect storm, as it deals with tax returns and dispatching millions of stimulus checks at the same time.
To cope the tax agency has decided to send the checks in batches, meaning some people have theirs while others are eagerly waiting.
This latest wave of payments includes about 17 million direct deposits, plus 15 million paper checks and mailing out five million debit cards. No mean feat.
MOVED HOUSE OR BANK ACCOUNT?
When you move you have to tell the IRS. Otherwise, it will send the checks or any tax refund to your old address.
And if it has been mailed to your old place then you’ll have to call the agency and ask for the payment to be reissued.
The same goes for your bank account. The cash will be sent to your old one if you don’t update your information with them.
PAPER CHECK OR DEBIT CARD?
This obviously makes a difference to how long it will be until you receive your payments.
Checks take longer to arrive than direct deposits or debit cards.
Find out how you will get your cash by using the IRS "Get My Payment" tool.
Also, be careful not to mistake your check envelope for junk mail and toss it away.
RED TAPE?
If you haven’t received your relief money then you may be a victim of infuriating bureaucracy.
This is because Social Security Administration was supposed to share its information with the IRS.
But that transfer between the agencies reportedly did not happen until Thursday, following public pressure from members of Congress.
Yet while the IRS now has the info, it is unclear how long it will take for it to send out the checks.
DEBT COLLECTORS?
Debt collectors were banned from snaffling the last two relief payments.
But not this time.
A legal loophole is allowing creditors to trouser stimulus checks.
It can be seized to pay several kinds of debt, except tax debt or back child support.
BANK HOLD-UP?
There have been reports of the IRS "future dating" its payments to some people.
Therefore your bank may not make your stimulus check money available to you until the tax agency's official payment date.
This happened to customers of JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo, who didn't receive the cash in their accounts for days after it was lodged.
DID YOU FAIL TO FILE YOUR TAXES?
If you did it could well be that the IRS does not have your details.
And if you’re not a Social Security or railroad retirement beneficiary, the tax agency won’t know if you are eligible for the stimulus checks.
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