Slate: Why Some Americans Entitled to a Coronavirus Relief Check Won’t Get One

The reason why is that the government intends to track Americans down and deliver their corona-bonus using the tax information they submitted in 2018 or 2019. But a fairly large number of households don’t file returns to the IRS each year because their income is so small that they are not required to. As a result, they don’t have a current bank account or home address on file with the agency. If one of these non-filers happens to receive old age or disability benefits from Social Security, the government will send them their relief checks based on that info. But otherwise? They might be out of luck. The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy estimates that some 7.5 million households, with 9 million adults and 4 million children, might not be able to get their money promptly, or perhaps at all. Read more