No, stimulus checks are not coming from the IRS or California in 2024. Don’t fall for false rumors

Who wouldn’t want another stimulus check? The government checks were a big help to many families during the early years of the COVID-19 pandemic.



The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) oversaw—and consistently botched —the distribution of three separate Economic Impact Payments between 2020 and 2021, meaning millions of American taxpayers were very often in the position of seeking out up-to-date information on when they could receive their coveted checks.



But some websites have figured out they can get a lot of traffic by spreading false information about additional checks. Every few months since the last stimulus checks were distributed by the IRS, online rumors have circulated that a fourth payment—or some variation of it—is imminent.



One recent iteration of these sketchily sourced rumors would have us believe that a $3,500 payment is on the way from the state of California.



Or scratch that—make it $12,000 .



And why not another $12,000 from the IRS while we’re at it?



Yet another version claims that Social Security recipients are getting a $2,300 stimulus check from the IRS.



Are stimulus checks actually coming?



As you have probably guessed by now, there are no stimulus checks coming from either the IRS or California’s Franchise Tax Board in 2024.



The federal Economic Impact Payments ended with the third check in 2021. Taxpayers who never received them could still claim them as a recovery rebate credit, but only for the tax year in which they were issued. “The IRS is no longer issuing third Economic Impact Payments,” the agency clearly says on its website.



As for California, the state issued two installments of its Golden State Stimulus payments a few years ago, and a spokesperson confirmed with Fast Company that there are no current plans to offer another one. It also issued something called a Middle Class Tax Refund in 2022 and early 2023, but that was a one-time payment issued as a debit card.



So to recap: Any stories about California or the federal government handing out new stimulus checks to citizens en masse are just flat-out untrue.   



Normally, these kinds of false rumors are easy enough to ignore, but they’ve been so frequent lately—perhaps aided by AI in some cases—that “$12,000 stimulus checks” became a trending topic on Google search last week.



What’s sad is that these rumors raise false hopes among people who are in financial dire straits and actually need the money.



What’s actually happening? 



Like many rumors, some of these stories contain a kernel of truth. For instance, eligible taxpayers can receive money back from the IRS as part of the Child Tax Credit or the Earned Income Tax Credit. And California, likewise, offers its own state-level tax credits.



But credits on taxes you owe are not the same as economic stimulus checks, which are—or were—direct payments from the government with the goal of stimulating the economy. Those payments provided a nice financial windfall for Americans impacted by COVID, but they’re over.



It’s worth pointing out that tax season is also over. The deadline to file this year was April 15, so unless you filed for an extension, you’re very late.



In terms of providing a service to actual taxpayers, it’s really hard to imagine who this recent deluge of “stimulus check” articles is meant to benefit—aside from the websites hoping to generate clicks.