The government keeps sending aid checks and you can still get one

By Lorie Konish - CNBC + Acorns

Have you not received the economic stimulus checks for the coronavirus pandemic?

File the tax return in the best way to get them

.

And despite the deadline to do so, it is not too late to claim the lost money. 

Congress approved the new $ 1,400 economic stimulus checks in March under the Rescue Plan.

This is the third round of payments for the coronavirus aid package, after checks for $ 1,200 and $ 600 approved last year.    

About 472 million payments have been sent from the first three rounds of stimulus checks,

totaling $ 807 billion

, Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Commissioner Charles Rettig said, In the past week.

The vast majority of stimulus checks that continue to be issued

go to taxpayers who are owed supplemental payments

 now that their tax returns have been processed.

In addition, checks are being sent to citizens who generally do not file their taxes but did file this time to claim that money.

[Several states offer an extra payment to people who stop collecting unemployment benefits and return to work]

Most taxpayers

should receive their $ 1,400 stimulus checks

and supplemental payments, if they are automatically eligible, according to Erica York, an economist at the Tax Foundation.  

The outstanding payments are mostly from people who have been difficult to reach, such as taxpayers who have no income or bank accounts, York says.

Recently,

the IRS released some guidelines for the homeless

, explaining that they may be eligible to receive the stimulus check, as well as the extended child tax allowance, even if they do not have a permanent physical address or bank account. . 

The key to accessing that money is filing your taxes even if you don't do it regularly.

The IRS announced that it is working to reach

the most difficult-

to-reach

sections of the population

, but may not reach most of those who would otherwise be eligible, York said.

[The 5 Keys to Receiving Biden-Approved Child Support Payments]

At the beginning of the year, for example, there were an estimated eight million checks from the economic stimulus plan approved in March 2020 that were still outstanding, York said.

The good news is that it is not too late to claim that money

.

"If you missed this year's filing deadline, it's not too late to file," said Susan Allen, tax manager for the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.

These are the requirements to receive aid checks of up to $ 300 for each child

May 17, 202101: 51

"

You can still file and claim that refund," he

said, while assuring that the IRS should not impose a late filing penalty if money is owed to him.

If, instead, you owe a balance to the tax agency, you may have to pay interest and late fees.

[How Biden's Monthly Child Credit Will Work and What It Means for Your Family]

Missing stimulus check money

can be claimed by filing a return

, which this year has a separate line and worksheet for the recovery refund credit.

The missing money can be claimed before the federal tax return filing deadline, which is

October 15

.

Generally, tax refunds can be claimed up to three years after their due date, according to Allen.

This article is part of the 

Invest in You Ready series.

Set.

Grow

 (Invest in you: Ready. Done. Grow), an initiative of CNBC and Acorns, the microinvestment app. 

NBC Universal and Comcast Ventures are

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investors 

.