The Internal Revenue Service is trying to find 279,000 recipients for more than $163 million in undelivered economic stimulus payments, according to the government. The average undelivered check is worth about $583.
Most undelivered stimulus payments had incorrect or incomplete addresses, according to the IRS. By law, the agency can't send out any more economic stimulus checks after Dec. 31 of this year.
However, "if you don't by chance make the deadline, and get your economic stimulus check in time, you can get it as a credit [a recovery rebate credit] on your 2008 tax return," said an IRS spokesman.
The IRS is also looking for the recipients of more than 104,000 regular tax refund checks worth about $103 million that were returned by the U.S. Postal Service due to mailing address errors.
"People across the country are missing tax refunds and stimulus checks. We want to get this money into the hands of taxpayers where it belongs," said IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman in a statement in October.
You can check the status of your stimulus check and get instructions on how to update addresses at http://www.irs.gov/ by clicking on the Where's My Stimulus Payment? tool. Taxpayers without Internet access can call 1-866-234-2942.
CNNMoney.com staff writer Kenneth Musante contributed to this report.
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