Stimulus Checks: Which States Have the Most Unclaimed Payments

More than 9 million Americans qualified for a stimulus check back in April but have yet to claim their emergency aid. The IRS urges these eligible Americans to use their online "non-filer tool" to get access to their emergency Economic Impact Payment as soon as possible. Many of these Americans may not even realize that they qualify, as they are not required to file tax returns.

According to an investigation by the Government Office of Accountability, as many as 8,863,344 eligible Americans have still not obtained their stimulus check. The IRS is now scrambling to get these funds to their rightful owners as the coronavirus pandemic stretches on. In many cases, these are Americans who were not required to file taxes in 2018 or 2019 — either because they live on a fixed income or because their income is below a certain threshold. These unclaimed stimulus checks are spread out widely across the U.S.

Unsurprisingly, most of the unclaimed stimulus checks are in the country's biggest and most populous states, according to a report by Forbes. The IRS released the tally of unclaimed checks in each state in the hopes of catching the attention of the people there who still have not gotten paid.

With the negotiations for a second stimulus check dragging on, acquiring the first one is more important than ever. Here is a breakdown of which states have the most unclaimed stimulus checks.