More than 1,200 Edgecombe County senior citizens, veterans and people with disabilities have not applied for an economic stimulus check, according to the Internal Revenue Service.

Most of them failed to file federal income tax returns. But it is not too late. They have until Oct. 15 to file and receive checks, $300 per individual.

“It’s a problem,” said Mark Hanson, an IRS spokesman in Washington, D.C. “There’s still quite a few we can’t get the money to.”

The economic stimulus payments were proposed by President Bush and authorized by Congress earlier this year.

Taxpayers were automatically enrolled in the program when the IRS processed their 2007 returns. Checks began arriving in May, and the IRS has issued 76 million payments worth $63.8 billion. The agency expects to issue 124 million payments by year's end.

However, 177,320 of North Carolina’s residents did not receive checks because they do not typically file returns, IRS data shows. Their primary incomes are either Social Security or Veterans Administration benefits.

That includes 1,223 in Edgecombe County.

Nationally, about 5.2 million people though to be eligible have not filed.

Social Security and VA receipts typically are not required to file tax returns if those benefits are their main income, but they were required to fill out abbreviated 1040 forms this year to get their stimulus checks.

“It takes about 15 minutes,” said Deborah Pittman Coley, director of the Edgecombe County Office on Aging.

Some private tax firms are offering, for a fee, to help seniors file their taxes.

Coley said she would help seniors for free to prepare and file the paperwork.

Seniors can file for free online at http://www.IRS.gov.

More information is available at the IRS Web site: http://www.IRS.gov and going to the Rebate Payment Questions link.

There also is a special toll-free Rebate Hotline at 1-866-234-2942.