The federal COVID-19 relief programs — stimulus checks, expanded unemployment, forgivable business loans, the Employee Retention Credit, housing aid, and the student loan payment pause — are almost all closed to new applicants in 2026. What remains active is the back end: unforgiven PPP and EIDL loans still being repaid, hundreds of thousands of Employee Retention Credit claims still being processed or audited, and IRS enforcement against businesses that received credits they weren’t entitled to. If you’re searching now, the practical question is usually whether you still owe something or whether something you claimed is under review.
Stimulus Payments Are Closed
Congress authorized three rounds of Economic Impact Payments between April 2020 and March 2021. The first paid $1,200 per adult and $500 per qualifying child under the CARES Act. The second paid $600 per person, including dependents. The third, under the American Rescue Plan, paid $1,400 per person and included dependents of any age.1Internal Revenue Service. 2021 Recovery Rebate Credit – Topic C: Eligibility for Claiming a Recovery Rebate Credit on a 2021 Tax Return Payments phased out starting at $75,000 for single filers, $112,500 for head-of-household filers, and $150,000 for joint filers.2Joint Committee on Taxation. Description of the Tax Provisions of Public Law 116-136, the CARES Act
If you missed a payment, you could once claim it as a Recovery Rebate Credit on a tax return. Both windows have closed. The deadline for the 2020 credit was May 17, 2024, and the deadline for the 2021 credit was April 15, 2025.3Internal Revenue Service. Publication 5486-A No new stimulus payment or Recovery Rebate Credit exists for 2026. The payments themselves were not taxable income.
Pandemic Unemployment Programs Have Ended
The CARES Act created three temporary unemployment programs that all expired on September 6, 2021. Pandemic Unemployment Assistance covered self-employed workers, independent contractors, and gig workers who normally can’t collect state unemployment, provided they were unable to work for a COVID-related reason.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 9021 – Pandemic Unemployment Assistance Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation added a flat weekly supplement on top of state benefits — $600 per week from late March through July 2020, then $300 per week under later legislation. Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation added up to 13 weeks for workers who ran through their state benefits.5U.S. Department of Labor. CARES Act of 2020 – Unemployment Insurance Provisions
No comparable federal unemployment supplement is in effect for 2026. State unemployment insurance operates under its ordinary rules.
PPP and EIDL Loans You May Still Be Repaying
Two SBA-administered loan programs left long tails of active debt.
Paycheck Protection Program
PPP loans were forgivable if at least 60 percent of the proceeds went to payroll, with the rest going to rent, mortgage interest, or utilities.6U.S. Department of the Treasury. PPP Interim Final Rule – Paycheck Protection Program as Amended by Economic Aid Act Businesses that didn’t apply for forgiveness within ten months after their covered period ended lost their payment deferral and began owing on the loan.7U.S. Small Business Administration. PPP Loan Forgiveness Unforgiven loans carry a 1 percent interest rate. Loans issued before June 5, 2020 have a two-year maturity; later loans have a five-year maturity.8U.S. Small Business Administration. First Draw PPP Loan Forgiven PPP loans were excluded from federal taxable income by statute.
Economic Injury Disaster Loans
COVID-19 EIDL loans carry a maximum interest rate of 4 percent and a repayment term of up to 30 years.9U.S. Small Business Administration. Economic Injury Disaster Loans The SBA stopped accepting new applications on January 1, 2022.10U.S. Small Business Administration. About COVID-19 EIDL The loans are real debt: many borrowers are only a few years into a 30-year schedule, and missed payments trigger standard SBA collection. Targeted EIDL Advances of up to $10,000 and Supplemental Targeted Advances of $5,000 did not require repayment.11U.S. Small Business Administration. About Targeted EIDL Advance and Supplemental Targeted Advance
The Employee Retention Credit and IRS Enforcement
The Employee Retention Credit is the pandemic-era program with the most active exposure in 2026. It was a refundable tax credit for wages paid to employees during periods of government-ordered suspension or a significant drop in gross receipts, and it applied to qualified wages paid between March 13, 2020, and December 31, 2021.12Internal Revenue Service. Frequently Asked Questions About the Employee Retention Credit
The filing window closed on April 15, 2025. In early April 2025, the IRS still had over 597,000 unprocessed claims in inventory, and processing was expected to continue into late 2025 or beyond. A statutory time limit applies: if processing runs more than two years from the date of a disallowance notice, the IRS cannot issue a refund even if it later agrees the claim was valid.13Taxpayer Advocate Service. The ERC Claim Period Has Closed
The program also drew aggressive promoters who filed claims for businesses that didn’t qualify, and the IRS has responded with a sustained enforcement campaign. As of May 2025, roughly 84,000 returns claiming the ERC had been partially or fully disallowed. The IRS ran two voluntary disclosure programs letting businesses repay 80 to 85 percent of improperly received credits; the second closed on November 22, 2024.14Internal Revenue Service. Frequently Asked Questions About the Second Employee Retention Credit Voluntary Disclosure Program
Businesses that kept ineligible credits and did not participate in either disclosure program face civil penalties (a 20 percent accuracy-related penalty and a 75 percent civil fraud penalty) and potential criminal charges, including tax evasion (up to five years in prison and fines up to $250,000) and filing a false return (up to three years in prison).14Internal Revenue Service. Frequently Asked Questions About the Second Employee Retention Credit Voluntary Disclosure Program If you used a third-party ERC promoter and you’re not sure your claim was justified, talking to a tax professional now is better than waiting for a notice.
Housing and Student Loan Relief
The Emergency Rental Assistance Program paid landlords and utilities on behalf of tenants who fell behind because of COVID-related hardship, generally for households under 80 percent of area median income.15U.S. Department of the Treasury. Emergency Rental Assistance Program Its period of performance has ended.
The Homeowner Assistance Fund, a $9.961 billion program under the American Rescue Plan, sent money to states, territories, and tribal governments to help homeowners with mortgage payments, property taxes, utilities, and insurance where a pandemic-related hardship began on or after January 21, 2020.16U.S. Department of the Treasury. Homeowner Assistance Fund Some state programs still hold remaining funds, though availability varies and is winding down. If you think you might qualify, check with your state housing agency directly.
Federal student loan borrowers with Direct Loans and other Department of Education-held loans saw payments suspended and interest set to zero from March 2020. Interest resumed accruing on September 1, 2023, with payments due starting in October 2023.17National Credit Union Administration. 18Internal Revenue Service. Calculation of the 2021 Child Tax Credit The Earned Income Tax Credit for workers without qualifying children roughly tripled that same year, and its eligible age range expanded. Both changes applied only to 2021 and have since reverted to prior levels.
What Still Matters in 2026
For most individuals, the pandemic-era programs are closed and the missed-payment claim windows have passed. The live issues in 2026 sit with businesses and their tax returns.
If you have an unforgiven PPP loan, track the 1 percent interest rate and your maturity date — two years for pre-June 5, 2020 loans, five years for later ones. If you have a COVID-19 EIDL loan, you’re likely early in a long repayment schedule and should treat it like any other SBA debt.
If you filed an ERC claim that hasn’t been processed, the file records that there is currently no mechanism to track a protest once submitted, and long processing delays risk hitting the two-year refund deadline after a disallowance notice.13Taxpayer Advocate Service. The ERC Claim Period Has Closed The Taxpayer Advocate Service reported nearly 11,000 unresolved ERC cases in its own inventory as of early April 2025. If you received an ERC you may not have been entitled to, the voluntary disclosure route has closed and the enforcement route is what remains.