Bill Oxford/Getty Images The Treasury Department has said up to 8 million eligible households haven't gotten stimulus checks. Those households may end up not receiving their entire amounts if they owe back taxes. The issue could affect the latest round of $1,400 direct payments being debated in Congress. Visit the Business section of Insider for more stories. In January, the Treasury Department said as many as 8 million American households had not received stimulus checks despite being eligible under the law.That number consisted of both those who qualified for the $1,200 direct payments that were part of the CARES Act that passed in March 2020 as well as those eligible for the $600 payments in the bill that passed in December.The IRS has been sending out the payments, issued in response to the coronavirus pandemic, based on data from 2018 and 2019 tax returns.