COVID Payments

If you did not get past COVID payments, you can still get them! You can get them even if you did not have to file taxes or had no income in the year.

  • If you did not file a 2020 return:

    File a 2020 return by May 17, 2024 to get payments you missed:

    • Up to $1800/adult ($1200 + $600)

    • Up to $1100/child ($500 + $600)

    This is the last chance to file returns to get 2020 COVID payments you missed.

  • If you did not file a 2021 return:

    File a 2021 return this year for:

    • Up to $1400/adult (or $2800 for a married couple) and up to $1400/child and other dependents in stimulus payments

    • Up to $3,600/child who was under 6 as of 12/31/21

    • Up to $3,000/older child was under 18 as of 12/31/21

    If you missed the 2021 payments, file a return this year or by April 18, 2025.

  • If you filed a 2020 or 2021 return, but did not get all of the payments

    File amended 2020 and 2021 returns this year.

    • The final deadline to file a 2020 return or amend your 2020 return to get the payments is May 17, 2024.

    If you filed returns or used the “non-filer” online form to try to get the payments but did not get them, you may be able to claim them through other procedures, such as tracing checks IRS issued but you never got or disputing denials by IRS.

Greater Boston Legal Services (GBLS) Tax Benefits Project

GBLS had been offering free help with missed COVID 2020 and 2021 stimulus and Child Tax Credit payments.

GBLS currently has taken as many of these cases as they can. They do not know if they can take many more cases this year.

If you missed any of the 2020 or 2021 stimulus payments, we urge you to try to get help from a free tax preparation program right away, find a location near you. The deadline for filing 2020 returns, is May 17. You also can try filing 2020 or 2021 returns for free at GetYourRefund.

Please also look at GBLS’s guide about whether you are eligible for more payments and how you can try to get them.

If you cannot get help from a free tax preparation program: In case GBLS can take more cases, email GBLS at taxbenefits-help@gbls.org and ask to get on GBLS’s wait list. Give your name, phone number, and say which payments you missed: 2020 or 2021 stimulus payments, or both, and whether you missed any 2021 Child Tax Credit payments.

GBLS provides free interpreters for all languages.

If GBLS can take your case, they offer doing 2020 and 2021 returns and amended returns, looking into why you missed payments, and helping with other steps you may be able to take to get missed payments.