Unsent Virus Payments Partly Congress’ Fault, IRS Chief Says

The IRS shouldn’t shoulder all the blame for virus relief payments that haven’t reached millions of eligible people, the agency’s commissioner said.

The CARES Act (Public Law 116-136), a relief law enacted in March, assigned the IRS to deliver millions of one-time economic impact payments to help individuals cope with the pandemic’s fallout. The agency has delivered more than 160 million of the payments, totaling more than $270 billion. But millions of eligible people with low incomes, who don’t normally file tax returns, still haven’t received the money because the IRS can’t identify them.

• IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig ...