As Millions of Americans still suffer from the COVID crisis financially, the Internal Revenue Service may be sending you a surprise tax refund.

Because of a provision in President Biden's huge pandemic rescue bill from March, people whose tax bills were reduced after they'd already paid them can expect to receive direct deposits or paper checks to compensate for the provision.

Couple the fact that we are seeing COVID infections on the rise again, and people still trying to recover from the loss of jobs and income from what we have already dealt with all this time during the pandemic, a check from the IRS would offer many people some much-needed help with things such as expenses and debt. There is also a massive backlog of returns yet to be processed by the IRS which has led to delayed refunds for those who are due and waiting for.

Here's a look at whether you might be getting some cash back from the IRS.

Millions of Americans had their hours cut back or lost their jobs and filed for unemployment in the beginning stages of COVID-19 last year.

Unemployment checks are normally taxed the same as any other income. But Biden's pandemic relief package allowed those who claimed jobless benefits in 2020 to exclude big chunks of the money from taxes: up to $10,200 for individuals, and $20,400 for couples who file jointly.

If your income was below $150,000 last year and you collected unemployment, you may have overpaid in taxes and find a surprise refund in your bank account or mailbox.

As the IRS starts the refund process, there are a couple of ways they will be sent out. If the IRS has your banking information, it will be sent by direct deposit. If the tax agency doesn't have a recipient's banking information, it issues a paper check.

Since May, the IRS has issued over 8 million unemployment compensation refunds totaling over $10 billion. Most eligible taxpayers will not need to take any action to receive their refund.

For more information, click here.

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LOOK: Answers to 30 common COVID-19 vaccine questions

While much is still unknown about the coronavirus and the future, what is known is that the currently available vaccines have gone through all three trial phases and are safe and effective. It will be necessary for as many Americans as possible to be vaccinated in order to finally return to some level of pre-pandemic normalcy, and hopefully these 30 answers provided here will help readers get vaccinated as soon they are able.

 

 

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