IRS seeks to return $4.3m to Mass. taxpayers

(File photo: Essdras M. Suarez/Globe staff)

Roughly 4,600 economic stimulus checks sent to Massachusetts taxpayers have been returned as undeliverable, said the Internal Revenue Service, adding that those checks have a total value of more than $2.6 million.

The IRS added in a press release today that more than 1,700 regular refund checks totaling more than $1.7 million have also been returned "due to mailing address errors."

“We want Massachusetts taxpayers to get this money as soon as possible," IRS spokesperson Peggy Riley said in a statement. "If you think you’re missing a stimulus check or tax refund, take a few minutes to go on IRS.gov or call the toll free IRS stimulus or refund Hotline. The website is open 24/7 to help you get your check.”

Earlier this year, the federal government implemented an economic stimulus plan that made many taxpayers eligible for stimulus checks worth as much as $600. Under the program, anyone who filed a 2007 federal tax return was automatically considered for a rebate.

But many low-wage workers and recipients of Social Security and veterans benefits did not submit tax returns because their incomes were not high enough to require it or their benefits are not normally taxable, the Globe noted in an August story.

In August, the IRS estimated that more than 150,000 Massachusetts residents, mostly low-income retirees and disabled veterans, had yet to file paperwork to receive economic stimulus checks they were entitled to, said the Globe story, which noted that Oct. 15 was the cutoff date for filing to ensure that checks were mailed by the end of the year

By late last month, the estimated number of Massachusetts residents who had yet to file had fallen to 117,000 Massachusetts taxpayers as the IRS sought to get the word out. The IRS said today that the 117,000 estimate is the latest estimate available.

Today's announcement, however, did not focus on people who have yet to file, but on people who did file and whose stimulus checks were returned to the IRS as undeliverable.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)