{"id":282894,"date":"2025-08-26T12:30:05","date_gmt":"2025-08-26T16:30:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/futbolete.com\/us\/?p=282894"},"modified":"2025-08-26T12:30:05","modified_gmt":"2025-08-26T16:30:05","slug":"viral-irs-tax-refunds-1390-dollars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/futbolete.com\/us\/viral-irs-tax-refunds-1390-dollars\/","title":{"rendered":"Viral Rumors Say the IRS Is Sending \u201cExtra\u201d Tax Refunds, but Here\u2019s the Truth"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Internet and their social media platforms are a &#8220;Petri dish&#8221; for spreading viral rumors, especially those related to money. The <strong>Internal Revenue Service (IRS)<\/strong> is one of the most targeted by this type of news, which is sometimes true and sometimes false. In recent weeks, viral claims have circulated concerning the alleged distribution of <strong>$1,390 tax refund checks by the IRS.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>When we came across all these viral rumors, we decided to do a little research to determine how true these alleged <strong>tax refunds<\/strong> are and how much of them are hoaxes. Here&#8217;s what we found, and at the end, we offer some tips to help you avoid falling into the traps of <strong>viral rumors<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<h2>Is a $1,390 IRS tax refund on the way?<\/h2>\n<p>These reports, widely propagated on various digital platforms during the <strong>summer of 2025<\/strong>, suggest the existence of a new <strong>economic relief program targeting low- and middle-income taxpayers<\/strong>. The narrative describes these payments as direct deposits or mailings. The date of reference for verification of these facts is <strong>August 26, 2025, when we elaborated this article.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The situation analysis indicates that there is no recent legislation passed by the United States Congress authorizing a fourth round of economic impact payments. The last stimulus authorized by law was distributed in <strong>2021.<\/strong> IRS operations for the current fiscal year are focused on <strong>administering regular tax credits<\/strong> <strong>and processing tax returns<\/strong>, not on issuing new non-refundable direct payments.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The IRS Taxpayer Service<\/strong> has reiterated in previous communications that all payments authorized under prior laws have been <strong>completed<\/strong>. Current efforts are focused on notifying taxpayers about the possibility of claiming outstanding credits from prior tax years, a process that requires filing a tax return and does not constitute an automatic payment.<\/p>\n<h2>Where does this viral information targeting the IRS come from?<\/h2>\n<p>Research into the origin of these rumors points to their emergence in <strong>mid-August 2025<\/strong>. Dissemination occurred predominantly through social media algorithms such as <strong>Instagram and Facebook<\/strong>, where posts and memes garnered high engagement. Some of these posts used official logos or sensationalist headlines to confer an appearance of legitimacy.<\/p>\n<p>The specification of the <strong>$1,390<\/strong> amount is unusual. It does not correspond to previous stimulus amounts, which were <strong>$1,200, $600, and $1,400<\/strong>. Some analyses suggest that the figure could be a distortion or a combination of amounts from already-ended state aid programs, erroneously reinterpreted in the federal context. The precise origin of the number remains undetermined.<\/p>\n<p>Media outlets and fact-checking organizations have investigated the claims. Their findings are unanimous in classifying the information as false. For example, a Fox News report noted that &#8220;<strong>the $1,390 checks are not in the works, despite viral rumors<\/strong>.&#8221; The Washington Post confirmed that no new stimulus checks will be issued, calling the rumors unfounded.<\/p>\n<h2>How to avoid falling into viral rumors about &#8220;easy money&#8221;<\/h2>\n<p>The IRS&#8217;s official position is also very clear: its website and press releases contain no announcement of a new direct payment program for 2025. A search in the &#8220;<strong>Economic Impact Payments<\/strong>&#8221; section leads to historical information on the <strong>2020 and 2021 programs<\/strong>, with an emphasis on the fact that those programs are closed. Furthermore, the agency has previously issued alerts warning of scams involving fake payments.<\/p>\n<p>We recommend that you always visit sites that offer verification of any information related to government payments exclusively through the official <a href=\"http:\/\/irs.gov\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><strong>irs.gov<\/strong><\/a> domain.<\/p>\n<p>Reliance on social media or websites not affiliated with the government increases the risk of <strong>falling victim to social engineering or phishing scams.<\/strong> Also, as a general rule, maintain a <strong>healthy skepticism<\/strong> toward any promise of easy or quick money.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Internet and their social media platforms are a &#8220;Petri dish&#8221; for spreading viral rumors, especially those related to money. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is one of the most targeted &#8230; <a title=\"Viral Rumors Say the IRS Is Sending \u201cExtra\u201d Tax Refunds, but Here\u2019s the Truth\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/futbolete.com\/us\/viral-irs-tax-refunds-1390-dollars\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Viral Rumors Say the IRS Is Sending \u201cExtra\u201d Tax Refunds, but Here\u2019s the Truth\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":282897,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[44,45],"class_list":["post-282894","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-finance","tag-irs","tag-tax"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/futbolete.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282894","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/futbolete.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/futbolete.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/futbolete.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/futbolete.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=282894"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/futbolete.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282894\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/futbolete.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/282897"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/futbolete.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=282894"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/futbolete.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=282894"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/futbolete.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=282894"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}