Will 10 states be issuing a fourth round of IRS stimulus checks on November 30, 2023? No, that's not true: There is no 2023 federal tax benefit stimulus program from the IRS nor are all the states listed in a social media post issuing their own stimulus checks. Virginia will be issuing rebate checks to eligible taxpayers before November 30, 2023; Alabama will beginning on December 1, 2023, and a stimulus check was issued to Arizona taxpayers with dependents on November 15, 2023.
The claim originated with an article published on Marca.com on November 15, 2023, titled, "Stimulus Checks: How much money is the IRS sending at the end of this month?" A post published on Facebook by Princess Foster on November 17, 2023 (archived here), repeated incorrect information from that article. It was captioned:
STIMULUS CHECKS COMING
Due date: November 30, 2023On November 30, 2023, the 4th round of checks for the following states will be issued: Alabama, Arizona,, Maryland, New York, Virginia, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Tennessee and Texas. If your account information is on file with the IRS, you will automatically get your money deposited into the account they have on file. If you received a paper check For your tax refund this year, you will get your stimulus. So if you moved & they don't have a new address that's your business.The amounts range from $500-$2,000 depending on your state and number of dependents.
Source: msn news
This is what the post looked like on Facebook at the time of writing:
(Source: Facebook screenshot taken on Mon Nov 20 14:52:14 2023 UTC)
The post lists MSN News as the source, but the article is not by MSN. The Marca.com article appeared on the news aggregator website Microsoft Start (archived here). Marca is a national daily sport and tabloid newspaper headquartered in Madrid, Spain.
The claim is flawed at its foundation because it fails to recognize distinctions between state and federal tax programs in the United States. An advanced Google search (archived here) for the term "stimulus check" on Marca.com brings up pages of articles in the results using the term in a very broad and misleading way.
Lead Stories reached out to the IRS Newsroom on November 20, 2023, and was told the IRS does not handle or have control over individual states and whether they issue stimulus checks -- they recommended that Lead Stories contact the state agencies mentioned.
Robyne McCullough, the director of media relations with the Office of the Comptroller in Maryland, told Lead Stories by email on November 21, 2023, and then in a subsequent conversation on November 21, 2023, that she could find no program in the state remotely resembling what was described in the claim. She emphasized that the way it was written in the Marca article made it sound as if this program were coming from the Internal Revenue Service at a federal level.
The article states incorrectly:
Accordgin to the IRS, they haven't released the date of distribution for this fourth round but you will likely get your check if you submitted your taxes before July 1st. As far as the states that are offering these payments. We have Alabama, Arizona, Maryland, New York, Virginia, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Tennessee, and Texas.
There is no "fourth round" of checks from the IRS, Marca and the Facebook post suggest. The IRS does not oversee state-issued stimulus checks. The IRS issued one round of Economic Impact Payments, sometimes called stimulus payments, in 2020, and two more in 2021. An information article on irs.gov, last updated March 15, 2023, explains:
The IRS has issued all first, second and third Economic Impact Payments. You can no longer use the Get My Payment application to check your payment status.
Most eligible people already received their Economic Impact Payments. However, people who are missing stimulus payments should review the information below to determine their eligibility to claim a Recovery Rebate Credit for tax year 2020 or 2021.
Arizona, Virginia, Alabama are issuing rebate checks
The Arizona legislature passed Senate Bill 1734 (PDF document) qualifying many Arizona families with dependents to a one-time tax rebate. These checks were directly deposited into the taxpayer's account on file or mailed to the last known address between October 15 and November 15, 2023. The Arizona Department of Revenue has a FAQ page about the Arizona Families Tax Rebate and a portal for taxpayers to check the status of their rebate. The rebate (under the subtitle "How much is the tax rebate?") is based on the number of dependents and their age:
For eligible taxpayers, the rebate is $250 per dependent under age 17 and $100 per dependent over age 17 as claimed on their 2021 returns. A taxpayer cannot claim more than three dependents, regardless of age. The maximum amount of a taxpayer's rebate is $750.
Virginia taxpayers who filed income taxes before July 1, 2023, may be eligible for a one-time tax rebate. These will be issued either by direct deposit or paper check before November 30, 2023. The Virginia tax website has a FAQ and a portal to check eligibility.
The Alabama Department of Revenue will be issuing one-time tax rebate checks (FAQ here) by direct deposit or paper check starting on December 1, 2023. Residents of Alabama who filed an individual tax return for 2021 before October 17, 2022, will receive a $150 rebate for individuals, or $300 if filing jointly.
Maryland, Tennessee, Michigan, Florida are not issuing stimulus checks
Lead Stories reached out to the communications officers at the respective revenue departments of the states listed in the Facebook post on November 20, 2023. New York, Georgia and Texas had yet to respond at the time of writing.
In 2023 Georgia issued a Surplus Tax Refund to eligible taxpayers six to eight weeks after the income tax filing deadline on April 18, 2023.
Texas is a state that does not tax personal income and Lead Stories found no evidence of a tax rebate. Even so, Marca.com had also published, "Texas Stimulus Checks: What day you''ll get your Annuity payment this month?" That article was high in the search results for "Texas stimulus check 2023" (here and here), as was the article of the main claim, due to the Microsoft Start aggregation (archived here). This article referenced a monthly annuity payment from Texas' Teacher Retirement System, which is not a "stimulus check."
The director of communications with the Tennessee Department of Revenue, Kelly Cortesi, replied to an inquiry from Lead Stories by email on November 20, 2023, saying:
The State of Tennessee does not have an income tax on wages. The Tennessee Department of Revenue does not plan to issue stimulus checks in November 2023.
Florida Department of Revenue Communications Director Bethany Wester wrote on November 20, 2023:
Florida does not have a personal income tax, and the Florida Department of Revenue is unable to answer inquiries about federal stimulus payments.
Also responding to Lead Stories on November 20, 2023, Ron Leix with the Michigan Treasury offered a link with information about a tax credit that some may be eligible for in 2024:
I'm not aware of any 'stimulus checks' being issued by the state of Michigan on Nov. 30. We do have some adjustments coming for the Michigan Earned Income Tax Credit related to the 2022 tax year that will result in some checks being distributed to some taxpayers in the beginning of 2024. Details about that can be found here -> https://www.michigan.gov/taxes/iit/eitc.
