The Internal Revenue Service is looking for nearly 25,000 retirees and disabled veterans in Hawai'i who qualify for this year's economic stimulus payment, but have not yet filed a claim.

A special stimulus category includes recipients of certain benefits from Social Security and Veterans Affairs who do not normally have a requirement to file a tax return. However, these individuals must file a tax return by Oct. 15 this year to receive their economic stimulus payments.

The IRS urges people to file by Oct. 15 to ensure they receive a payment by year's end. It can take up to eight weeks for the IRS to process the return and issue the check.

The IRS said about 70,000 people in Hawai'i who qualify for an economic stimulus payment may not normally be required to file a tax return and may not have done so in several years. New statistics estimate 24,463 people in this group of retirees and disabled veterans from Hawai'i may qualify for the payments but have not filed.

Under the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008, people may be eligible for the minimum payment of $300 ($600 for married couples) even if they are not normally required to file a tax return.

To qualify for the minimum economic stimulus payment, people must have at least $3,000 of qualifying income, in any combination, from Social Security retirement, disability or survivors' benefits; disability compensation, disability pension or survivors' benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs; Tier 1 benefits from Railroad Retirement; certain combat pay; and earned income from wages, salaries, tips or net earnings from self-employment that are included in taxable income.

Supplemental Security Income is not qualifying income and is not included in the amount reported in Box 5 of Form SSA-1099.

For those people with qualifying income, it is not too late to file for your economic stimulus payment, said Internal Revenue Service spokeswoman Judy Monahan. A federal tax return must be filed with your qualifying income to be able to receive your economic stimulus payment.