A widely shared rumor on Facebook, is just that, SFGATE reported. The IRS will not be issuing another round of stimulus checks.
The false claim that a fourth round of stimulus checks—with payments ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars—would be sent to residents of 10 states starting Nov. 30 began appearing on Facebook last month.
“There is no fourth round of [stimulus checks] from the Treasury Department,” IRS spokesman Anthony Burke told SFGATE. He said that his office has received multiple calls about the rumors.
The federal government sent three rounds of stimulus checks—called Economic Impact Payments—to income tax filers between March 2020 and March 2021 as a way to offer some relief from some of the hardships of the COVID-19 pandemic. Approximately 476 million payments, totaling $814 billion, were sent during that time, SFGATE reported.
The origins of the rumor of fourth round of payments remain murky. SFGATE suggested that it may have been an August CBS News report that some residents in Idaho, Illinois, Massachusetts, Montana and New Mexico may receive a check from their state by the end of the year, but that is due to state budget factors, not any federal program.