IRS wants you to claim your payment Are you one of the 123,000 Virginia retirees and disabled veterans who haven't asked for your economic stimulus payment yet?

If you are, the Internal Revenue Service is looking for you to give you the money.

Honest.

In Virginia, 75 percent of the 495,800 potentially eligible retirees and disabled veterans are accounted for. But nearly 124,000 are not.

Especially in Richmond, many have not yet filed -- more than 10,000, the federal agency said.

Virginia Beach ranks second with more than 5,700 potential filers. Norfolk ranks third with 5,000 and Roanoke County ranks fourth with 3,600.

Can't you think up a way to spend up to $600 if you're single, and $1,200 for married couples filing joint returns, plus $300 if you support eligible children younger than 17?

By now, nationwide, 76.1 million payments worth $63.8 billion have been issued to American taxpayers. Many more checks are in the mail. By year's end, the agency expects to have issued about 124 million payments.

If you're a retiree or disabled veteran and haven't asked for your check yet, why haven't you? Nationwide, you're among 5.2 million potentially eligible people who haven't.

IRS spokesman Jim Dupree said many retirees and injured veterans do not normally file a tax return because their benefits are not taxable. But this year, they must file to receive an economic stimulus payment.

Dupree, who represents Virginia for the agency, said that if you get a stimulus payment, it won't affect other federal benefits. Also, the stimulus payment is not taxable and these recipients don't have to start filing tax returns afterward.

Would you like help or have questions? Pick up the telephone, or have someone do it for you, and dial the IRS at (800) 829-1040.

If you have access to a computer, go to www.irs.gov and click Contact IRS and then Contact My Local Office.

If you're not a retiree or disabled vet, why not help someone who is?

Remind them that they're entitled to a check even if they do not normally have to file a tax return. To get the free money, though, they must file a 1040A form by Oct. 15.

They are not eligible for a stimulus check if they were claimed as a dependent on another person's tax return; don't have $3,000 of qualifying income; don't have a valid Social Security number; or have a Taxpayer Identification Number (except for spouses and qualifying children of military personnel).

If adjusted gross income is greater than $75,000 for a single person, $150,000 for married couples filing jointly, the payments shrink. People who make too much money don't get a stimulus check.

The $3,000 of qualifying income could be any combination of money, including nontaxable combat pay and certain Social Security, Veterans Affair or Railroad Retirement pay.

Supplemental Security Income does not qualify. Veterans Affairs benefits do, if they are disability compensation, disability pension or survivor payments. For railroad retirees, the Social Security equivalent portion of Tier 1 benefits qualifies.

Here's how the IRS wants retirees and disabled veterans to get a check: Later this summer, it will send people who it believes are eligible a letter explaining how to claim the money.

Recipients will receive the 1040A tax form, which they should complete and mail to the IRS using the address listed on the back of the form's instruction booklet, or mail it to the Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service, Atlanta, GA 39901-0115.

Get your money faster by having it direct-deposited into your bank account. My stimulus check came electronically a month after I filed my taxes. Contact Iris Taylor at (804) 649-6349 or itaylor@timesdispatch.com.