ATLANTA — With the holiday season here, claims online promising big bucks in the form of a fourth stimulus check payment are circulating.
It's not wise to trust everything one sees online. The VERIFY team went straight to the source to check the facts.
THE QUESTION
Is the Internal Revenue Service issuing a fourth round of stimulus checks to select states including Georgia?
THE SOURCES
- Spokesperson, Internal Revenue Service
- Andrew Poulos, financial expert
- www.IRS.gov
THE ANSWER
No, there is no fourth round of federal stimulus payments in the works.
WHAT WE FOUND
The federal government issued nearly a trillion dollars in economic impact payments, also referred to as stimulus payments, during the pandemic in 2020 and 2021. Three separate rounds of payments were made as a result.
Yet, social media posts recently started circulating a claim that a fourth round of stimulus checks is on the way for 10 states including Georgia. The posts claim the funds vary by state and will arrive on Nov. 30. But financial expert Andrew Poulos debunked that idea as "categorically false."
“That is not true," financial advisor Andrew Poulos said. “There is no fourth stimulus in the plan. The last that occurred was issued under the American Rescue Plan signed into law by President Biden in late 2021. We’ve not have any other stimulus since then.”
Separately, the IRS confirmed in an email there is "no 4th round of Economic Impact Payments (EIP) from the Treasury Department."
The agency did, however, release an update this month related to the prior stimulus payments, “reminding those who may be entitled to the Recovery Rebate Credit to file a tax return and claim their money before it's too late.” The agency published the deadlines here.
As for Georgia, the state did issue its own tax refunds last year and again this past March, but Poulos clarified that funding was a result of the state surplus and separate from federal payments.
In summary, claims that the IRS is issuing a fourth round of stimulus payments to select states this week are false. But Poulos says the posts are a timely reminder to be wary given the uptick in misinformation that circulates around the holidays.
“Tax season and the holiday season are to the peak times where scams, identity theft or financial crimes happen,” he added.
The VERIFY team works to separate fact from fiction so that you can understand what is true and false. Please consider subscribing to our daily newsletter, text alerts and our YouTube channel. You can also follow us on Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok. Learn More »