The CARES Act is technically still law, but as a source of pandemic relief it is effectively finished. Signed on March 27, 2020, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act was built out of temporary programs with hard end dates, and by 2026 nearly all of them have expired.1GovInfo. Public Law 116-136 – Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act The deadlines to go back and claim leftover money — stimulus checks, employer credits — have also passed. What remains active is mostly on the government’s side of the ledger: student loan repayment obligations, fraud investigations, and overpayment collections.
Stimulus Checks Can No Longer Be Claimed
The CARES Act authorized the first round of Economic Impact Payments at $1,200 per adult and $500 per qualifying child. Two later laws added a second round of $600 and a third round of $1,400 per person. Automatic payments stopped years ago, and the backup route was to claim the Recovery Rebate Credit on the relevant year’s tax return: the first two payments on a 2020 return, the third on a 2021 return.
Under Internal Revenue Code Section 6511, taxpayers generally have three years from a return’s due date to file and claim a refund.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 6511 – Limitations on Credit or Refund Both windows are now closed. The 2020 return deadline was May 17, 2024, three years after the IRS’s extended pandemic filing date.3U.S. Department of the Treasury. Treasury and IRS Extend Filing and Payment Deadline to May 17 The 2021 return deadline for the $1,400 payment was April 15, 2025.4CBS News. Deadline to File With the IRS for a Missed $1,400 Stimulus Check Is April 15 If you missed either date, the money is permanently forfeited. There is no appeal and no extension.
Federal Student Loan Relief Has Ended
Section 3513 of the CARES Act suspended payments and set interest at 0% on federally held student loans through September 30, 2020. Executive actions extended the pause repeatedly, but interest began accruing again on September 1, 2023, and payments came due in October 2023.
Collections Are Paused, Not Cancelled
The federal government briefly reactivated the Treasury Offset Program, which intercepts tax refunds and Social Security payments, in May 2025. It paused the program again in January 2026, along with wage garnishment, to give borrowers a window to rehabilitate their loans under the Working Families Tax Cuts Act.5ACA International. 2026 Student Loan Update – Federal Collections Paused for System Overhaul The pause is temporary. Once the Department of Education finishes its system overhaul, involuntary collections will resume, including wage garnishment of up to 15% of disposable pay and seizure of tax refunds.6Federal Student Aid. Collections
The SAVE Plan Is Being Wound Down
The Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) repayment plan has been blocked by court injunction. On December 9, 2025, the Department of Education announced a proposed settlement that would end SAVE entirely: no new enrollments, denial of pending applications, and transition of current borrowers to other repayment plans.7Federal Student Aid. IDR Court Actions The settlement is pending court approval.
Borrowers enrolled in SAVE sit in a general forbearance during which interest has been accruing since August 1, 2025. No payments are required, but balances are growing, and months in this forbearance do not count toward Public Service Loan Forgiveness. If PSLF credit matters to you, the Department recommends using its Loan Simulator to compare plans and moving to a currently eligible income-driven option.
The separate Fresh Start program for borrowers in default ended on October 2, 2024. Loan rehabilitation and consolidation are still available, without the streamlined benefits Fresh Start offered.8Federal Student Aid. A Fresh Start for Federal Student Loan Borrowers in Default
PPP and EIDL Are Closed, but Audits Continue
The Paycheck Protection Program stopped accepting new applications on May 31, 2021, and the SBA has no authority to approve new PPP loans. The parallel enhancements to Economic Injury Disaster Loans also ended for new applicants.9U.S. Small Business Administration. Paycheck Protection Program
Existing borrowers who missed the forgiveness window (ten months after the last day of the covered period) now have standard debt obligations with required payments. Forgiven amounts are excluded from federal gross income, and business expenses paid with those funds remain deductible.
The bigger current issue is exposure. Congress extended the statute of limitations for PPP fraud from five to ten years under the PPP and Bank Fraud Enforcement Harmonization Act of 2022, and did the same for EIDL fraud through a companion law.10Pandemic Oversight. PRAC Welcomes Newly-Passed Legislation Extending Statute of Limitations on Pandemic Relief Fraud Federal investigators have a decade from the date of the offense to bring charges, and the Department of Justice has been prosecuting aggressively, with sentences past four years for scheme organizers.11U.S. Department of Justice. Leader of PPP Fraud Scheme Sentenced to 51 Months in Prison
The SBA also extended lender records retention to ten years from the final disposition of each loan, whether forgiven, in repayment, or paid off.12Federal Register. Business Loan Program Temporary Changes – Paycheck Protection Program Extension of Lender Records Retention Requirements Business owners should keep their own payroll records, bank statements, and forgiveness documentation for at least that long.
Employee Retention Credit Deadlines Have Passed
The Employee Retention Credit was a refundable payroll tax credit for employers who kept workers on payroll during pandemic shutdowns or revenue declines. It applied to qualified wages paid between March 13, 2020, and December 31, 2021.13Internal Revenue Service. Employee Retention Credit
The deadline to file for 2020 tax periods was April 15, 2024. The deadline for 2021 tax periods was April 15, 2025. Both are gone, and the IRS can no longer issue new ERC refunds for late claims.14Internal Revenue Service. Frequently Asked Questions About the Employee Retention Credit
Employers who already received ERC refunds should hold onto their records. The IRS has flagged widespread fraud in the program and continues to audit paid claims, and it expects repayment with penalties and interest for improperly claimed credits. Employers who filed but have not yet been paid and now believe they were ineligible can pull back through the IRS withdrawal process.
No Federal Eviction or Foreclosure Protections Remain
Section 4024 of the CARES Act imposed a 120-day moratorium on eviction filings for tenants in federally subsidized or federally financed properties. That moratorium lapsed in late July 2020. A later CDC moratorium was struck down by the Supreme Court in August 2021 on the ground that only Congress could authorize such a sweeping measure.15Supreme Court of the United States. Alabama Association of Realtors v. Department of Health and Human Services No federal eviction protection is currently in effect.
Foreclosure forbearance under Section 4022, plus the agency moratoriums from Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, FHA, VA, and USDA, have all ended. FHA’s COVID-19 Recovery Loss Mitigation Options ran through February 1, 2026, replaced by a permanent set of tools (repayment plans, forbearance, loan modifications, partial claims, and other alternatives to foreclosure) that took effect February 2, 2026.16U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Updates to Servicing, Loss Mitigation, and Claims
Some jurisdictions may still be distributing remaining Emergency Rental Assistance funds under local rules as the money winds down. Tenants facing eviction should contact a local housing authority or legal aid office.
Enhanced Unemployment Is Gone, but Overpayments Are Still Being Collected
The CARES Act created Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation, which added $600 per week to state benefits, and Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, which extended eligibility to gig workers, freelancers, and the self-employed. Both programs expired nationwide in September 2021. Claims since then run under ordinary state unemployment rules.
What is still active is the recovery of overpayments. State workforce agencies continue to pursue claimants who received pandemic benefits they were not entitled to, sometimes years after the fact. The CARES Act allows states to waive repayment when the overpayment was not the claimant’s fault and collection would be unfair, and the Department of Labor authorized blanket waivers for specific scenarios like benefits paid at the wrong rate.17U.S. Department of Labor. US Department of Labor Provides States With Updated Guidance to Waive Recovery of Certain Unemployment Insurance Benefits Overpayments Fraudulent overpayments cannot be waived. If you have received an overpayment notice, check your state agency’s website for its appeal and waiver process; the rules and deadlines vary.