(CNN) — Nobody likes to file their tax return.

However, this year there is a very good reason for everyone to file the federal tax return,even if your income in 2020 was so low that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) doesn’t require you to do so.

You could get more money back than you can imagine, or at least cut the tax bill. Several of the covid-19 relief provisions can only be fully claimed through the tax return. Some fiscal credit rules have become more advantageous as a result of the pandemic. And you may be eligible for some tax exemptions for the first time because of the coronavirus.

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The IRS will begin accepting returns on February 12. The filing deadline is April 15, unless you apply for an automatic extension.

However, filing your return on time will prevent you from avoiding a penalty for doing so out of time and potentially a penalty for not paying if you still owe taxes to the IRS.

Request as many stimuli as you’re eligible for

If you earned less than $75,000 as a bachelor, $112,500 as head of household, or $150,000 as a married couple in 2020 and have not yet received aid payments from the federal government’s covid-19, filing the federal tax return will be the best way to get the full amount of the two economic impact payments for which you are eligible.

The IRS sent two payments so far: the first was up to $1,200 per adult and the second up to $600. People with dependent children received more money.

But anyone who has not filed a federal tax return in 2019 or whose 2019 income was above the 2020 income eligibility thresholds for stimulus payments may not have received what is owed to them. This is because the IRS, for the sake of speed, sent payments based on the 2019 tax information it had. It also took into account information from Social Security beneficiaries.

The same situation may have affected parents who divorced in 2020, said Elaine Maag, one of the leading research associations at the Urban-Brookings Fiscal Policy Center.

The IRS may have sent the family’s full stimulus payment to the non-custodial parent.

In that case, Maag noted, the IRS will not require non-custodial ex-spouses to return the money they received in error. And he’ll send a duplication of the payment to the parent who can prove his custody status last year.

But to receive the payment you are owed, you have to claim the refund recovery credit. The credit will be awarded for the same amount as the stimulus payment for which you are eligible. Refund credits reduce your tax liability by considering the amount of money. If a credit exceeds your tax liability, the rest will be sent to you as a refund.

You may be eligible for a earned income tax credit

Considering how difficult 2020 was from an economic point of view for so many people, you may qualify for another tax exemption—the reimbursable earned income tax credit (EITC)—that is geared towards rewarding work in low- or moderate-income taxpayer cases.

To be eligible for EITC, your income must be below certain thresholds that depend on how many children you have. For example, for fiscal year 2020, your adjusted gross income may not exceed $21,210 for a married couple with no children, but it can reach $56,844 if you have three children. (There are other factors that determine EITC eligibility detailed in this IRS summary).

The credit is worth up to $6,660 for married couples with children a

nd up to $538 for single taxpayers without children.

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In addition, the EITC rules have been amended to provide more covid-19-linked relief for those who qualify. You can choose whether to base your EITC on 2019 or 2020 revenue, whichever is more advantageous to you.

That same retrospective provision will also apply if you qualify for the refundable child tax credit.

“In both cases, if you earned less in 2020 than in 2019, you can calculate your credits based on 2019 earnings or 2020 earnings. You can choose a different year for each credit,” Maag said.

Small business owners will benefit from enhanced deductions

Small business owners who paid for business expenses with money from a Payment Check Protection Program loan that was forgiven can still deduct those expenses on their federal tax return as if they had been paid with the income.

And the waived loan will be treated as tax-free for small business owners