What Were The Three Stimulus Payments

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How Is The Third Stimulus Check Calculated

Three ways the new stimulus checks are different from the CARES Act payments

The stimulus plan mandates the treasury to rely on 2019 and 2020 tax returns to calculate how much you could get for the third round of stimulus checks.

Congress approved limits based on adjusted gross income ranges. This means that taxpayers making less than the minimum threshold could get the full stimulus check, while those earning above it get reduced payments until they are fully phased out at higher incomes.

You can find your AGI on IRS form 1040. This is calculated by subtracting deductions like student loan interest, health savings account payments, and contributions to a traditional IRA from your gross income.

By contrast, your gross income is the total amount of money that you made during the tax year, including wages, dividends, capital gains, rental property income and other types of revenue.

Your 2019 taxes had to be filed by July 15, 2020. And your 2020 taxes are due by the extended deadline of May 17. You can read more about when to file your tax returns for the third stimulus check, and other IRS requirements in two tax sections below.

What Can I Do If I Have Not Received My Eip Money By Those Deadlines

If you have not received all or some portion of your Economic Impact Payments by the deadlines above, you will have to file a 2020 tax return and claim these amounts. You claim them on line 30 of the 2020 Form 1040 as a “Recovery Rebate Credit“. This is another name for the EIP stimulus payments. If you did not get all or a portion of the EIP payments in advance, then you can claim them on line 30 of your tax return for 2020.

How Do I Get Help Filing A 2020 Tax Return To Claim My Eip

The IRS recommends electronic filing, and we agree. It is a faster, more secure option. Paper forms will take much longer to be processed by IRS. You may qualify for free e-file software.

You can also call the Vermont 2-1-1 hotline and follow the menu options for tax preparation. Through this service you may be able to schedule an appointment with a free Volunteer Income Tax Preparation Assistance site. These sites are staffed by trained volunteers. They provide free preparation services to taxpayers who meet eligibility requirements.

Also, you can find Form 1040 and Form 1040 instructions on the IRS website. The instructions for the “Recovery Rebate Credit” are found on pages 57 – 59.

Also Check: Irs.gov Stimulus Check Sign Up

Child Tax Credit: December End

Some families received another form of stimulus aid when the IRS in July deposited the first of six monthly cash payments into bank accounts of parents who qualify for the Child Tax Credit . Families on average received $423 in their first CTC payment, according to an analysis of Census data from the left-leaning advocacy group Economic Security Project.

Eligible families received up to $1,800 in cash through December, with the money parceled out in equal installments over the six months from July through December. The aid was due to the expanded CTC, which is part of President Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan.

Families who qualify received $300 per month for each child under 6 and $250 for children between 6 to 17 years old. Several families that spoke to CBS MoneyWatch said the extra money would go toward child care, back-to-school supplies and other essentials.

While progressives and some Democrats urged lawmakers to continue the enhanced CTC, it appears stalled at the moment. That means families won’t receive a CTC payment in January or beyond.

Stimulus Check Fact Check: What Are Other Countries Giving Away

Third Stimulus Check: Track Your COVID

As for the direct payments, Japan gave out more than $900 to all citizens, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro put $110 per month into many of the countrys poorest families, and South Koreas government sent $820 checks to families in the bottom 70 percent of income brackets.

The Internal Revenue Service already has sent millions of coronavirus relief checks and the funds could potentially be a lifesaver for many financially struggling Americans.

Know that to date, Congress has green-lighted the delivery of three stimulus checks to most Americansa $1,200 check in April 2020, $600 in December, and the current $1,400 payments under President Joe Bidens American Rescue Plan.

The discretionary response is very large in the United States but when youre comparing you need to take into account that actually more needs to be done in the U.S. because the social safety nets are smaller, Paolo Mauro, deputy director of the International Monetary Funds fiscal affairs department, recently told the BBC.

With this in mind, some are wondering whether other countries are also utilizing direct payments to citizens to help lift their respective economies out of the grips of the ongoing pandemic.

Yes, there are other large economies that have given out stimulus payments, but most European countries have tapped into a more targeted approach with employment wage protection schemes.

Also Check: H& r Block Stimulus Check

Havent Received Your Third Stimulus Payment Yet

The IRS will continue to send checks via the Treasury. The majority who have received a first or second payment dont need to do anything more to get the third payment, which often will be sent out automatically. Following the model of the second round of checks, payments should be issued automatically to people who:

  • Filed 2019 or 2020 federal tax returns. The IRS will use the taxpayers latest processed return.
  • Registered for the first round of stimulus payments through the non-filer portal on IRS.gov by Nov. 21, 2020.
  • Receive Social Security , Supplemental Security Income , or Railroad Retirement Board or Veterans Affairs benefits.

Those receiving Social Security and other federal benefits will generally receive this third payment the same way as their regular benefits.

The IRS Get My Payment Tool allows you to provide information to the agency for a stimulus check and to track payment status.

If you got your payment based on your 2019 return and find that youre entitled to more based on your 2020 return, the IRS will compute the additional amount owed to you.

Does The American Rescue Plan Provide Additional Unemployment Benefits

Continuing the expanded unemployment aid established by the CARES Act and the Covid-19 Economic Relief Bill, this new pandemic relief legislation extends unemployment benefits through early September 2021. Those filing for unemployment benefits will remain eligible for $300 in aid per week on top of normal payments. The additional benefits are automatic, and recipients need only to continue filing biweekly claims with their state unemployment insurance agency.

The act also includes a new benefit for unemployed Americans in the form of a significant tax break. Individuals who collected unemployment during the 2020 tax year may waive federal income taxes on up to $10,200 of that money , provided they earned less than $150,000 in 2020.

Also Check: Amount Of All Stimulus Checks

St Round Of Stimulus Checks: April 2020

It was specified in the CAREs Act that qualified tax-paying adults would get a check of up to $1,200 and their dependent children under the age of 16 would receive checks of up to $500 as part of a stimulus package .

Those earning less than $75,000 were eligible for the payments, which were provided to those earning up to $99,000 . Individuals received their first stimulus payments on April 11 and 12, either by direct deposit into their bank accounts, paper checks mailed to them, or the Economic Impact Payment Card, a prepaid debit card delivered to them in late May or early June of last year.

Amount Based On 2019 Or 2020 Tax Return

When will stimulus checks be deposited? Can checks be garnished? We asked the experts

For third-round stimulus payments, eligibility and amounts were based on either your 2019 or 2020 return. If your 2020 tax return wasn’t filed and processed by the IRS by the time the tax agency started processing your third stimulus payment, then the IRS used information from your 2019 tax return. If your 2020 return was already filed and processed when the IRS was ready to send your payment, then your stimulus check eligibility and amount was based on the information on your 2020 return. If your 2020 return was filed and/or processed after the IRS sent you a third stimulus check, but before December 1, 2021, the IRS sent you a second “plus-up” payment for the difference between what your payment should have been if based on your 2020 return and the payment actually sent based on your 2019 return. As a result, your third stimulus check may have been higher or lower depending on when you filed your 2020 tax return.

Recommended Reading: Get My Stimulus Payment 1400

Where Is My Third Stimulus Check

You can track the status of your third stimulus check by using the IRS Get My Payment tool, available in English and Spanish. You can see whether your third stimulus check has been issued and whether your payment type is direct deposit or mail.

When you use the IRS Get My Payment tool, you will get one of the following messages:

Payment Status, which means:

  • A payment has been processed. You will be shown a payment date and whether the payment type is direct deposit or mail or
  • Youre eligible, but a payment has not been processed and a payment date is not available.

Payment Status Not Available, which means:

  • Your payment has not been processed or
  • Youre not eligible for a payment.

Need More Information, which means:

  • Your payment was returned to the IRS because the post office was unable to deliver it. If this message is displayed, you will have a chance to enter your banking information and receive your payment as a direct deposit. Otherwise, you will need to update your address before the IRS can send you your payment.

No Economic Recovery For Others

The pandemic has further highlighted the growing imbalance across the broader economy. While many households have financially flourished during COVID, many others have fallen behind where they were in early 2020. Much of the gap depends on whether wage earners could work remotely during the shutdown or had public-facing jobs that required them to be on-site.

Financial insecurity is still widespread, and the loss of a job and the loss of hours were some of the main reasons over the course of the pandemic. Nine percent of American adults reported a shortage of food in their household over the previous week, according to a Center on Budget and Policy Priorities analysis of U.S. Census survey data from late September and early October. Approximately 16 percent of renters have fallen behind on their rent, including 23 percent of renters with children in their household. The federal eviction moratorium, which ended October 3, didn’t forgive rent that was owed, it pushed the debt into the future. And evictions continued in some parts of the country regardless. Meanwhile, only a fraction of the $46 billion Congress allocated for rental assistance has actually made it to tenants and landlords. As of late September, over a quarter of American adults reported some difficulty keeping up with expenses in the prior week.

Read Also: When Will The $1400 Stimulus Checks Be Mailed Out

Stimulus Check 1 2020

This is when the first stimulus check was delivered:

  • The CARES Act, which authorized the payment, was signed into law.
  • The IRS began making direct deposits to those with bank information on file. Most were delivered by April 15.
  • Paper stimulus checks started going out at a rate of around 5 million per week. Payments continued through early summer.
  • End of April: Beneficiaries of certain benefits, such as Social Security retirement benefits, began receiving payments at the end of April via direct deposit.
  • May: SSI beneficiaries began receiving checks, as did Social Security beneficiaries who use representative payees to manage their benefits.
  • May 18: IRS started to send payments via prepaid debit card, also known as Economic Impact Payment Cards.
  • Eligible individuals in U.S. territories started to receive stimulus payments.
  • Individuals who used the Get My Payment tool to report eligible dependents prior to May 17 began to receive checks if they’d missed out on dependent funds.
  • Mid-September: Individuals who lost payments because spouses owed past-due child support began receiving catch-up stimulus checks.
  • Extended deadline for non-filers to use online tool to register and get their stimulus payment by Dec. 31, 2020.

Which Tax Return Is Used For My Third Stimulus Check

Next round of stimulus #3 payments go out, VA timeline released ...

The IRS uses 2019 or 2020 tax returns to determine eligibility for your third stimulus check. You should note that if your income fell in the 2020 tax year, filing your tax return earlier could help you qualify for a bigger third stimulus check. The new stimulus plan targets lower income ranges to exclude higher-earning taxpayers from getting a payment.

As we pointed out before, individuals making under $75,000 get the maximum stimulus payment of $1,400 . But payments are capped at $80,000 for single filers and $160,000 for couples. So filing at the beginning of the tax season with a lower income may help you qualify for a bigger check. But, if your income went up in tax year 2020, then you may want to delay filing so that eligibility is determined by your lower 2019 income.

You might also want to file early if the size of your family increased in 2020. The new stimulus plan includes a child tax credit that pays up to $3,600 for each qualifying child under 6 years old, and $3,000 for every child between ages 6 and 17. This means that if you became a parent during the tax year, you could get an additional payment by claiming your child as a dependent earlier.

SmartAssets child tax credit calculator will help you figure out how much you could get for each child.

You can use SmartAssets tax return calculator to figure out your 2021 tax refund or tax bill.

Don’t Miss: How To Check For Stimulus Checks

Who Qualifies For A Payment

Taxpayers must have a Social Security number to be eligible for a payment and meet the income requirements detailed above.

While the steeper income phase out reduces the number of taxpayers qualifying for this stimulus payment, all dependents of eligible taxpayers will also receive a payment for the first time. That includes millions of college students, disabled adults and elderly Americans. Mixed-status families in which some members have Social Security numbers and some do not are also eligible, as they were for the second payment.

Like the second stimulus payment, those who owe child support should not have any of their stimulus money withheld.

Stimulus Checks: What You Need To Know

On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic. The United States swiftly responded. Individual states put a series of lockdowns in place to slow the spread, and as unemployment climbed, the federal government sprang into action. It passed relief bills that included an Economic Impact Payment — better known as a coronavirus stimulus check.

Following the first stimulus payment, demand grew for more direct relief to American families as the pandemic raged on. In December 2020, the U.S. government again took action to provide a second stimulus check.

However, many on the left felt the second check was insufficient, leading numerous Democrats to campaign on providing additional stimulus funds. Voters delivered Democrats control of the White House, the U.S. House of Representatives, and the U.S. Senate.

As a result, shortly after taking office, President Joe Biden signed a bill authorizing a third stimulus check. The American Rescue Plan Act was signed into law on March 11, 2021. The legislation passed on a partisan basis with no Republican support. It’s widely expected to be the last direct payment Americans receive.

Here’s what you need to know about these direct payments, including who is eligible, how much money was available in the stimulus checks, and how to check the status of your payment.

Don’t Miss: Where’s My 1st And 2nd Stimulus Check

What If My Spouse Or Ex

If you did not get all or some portion of your Economic Impact Payments you can file a 2020 tax return and claim these amounts on line 30 of the form. The IRS is referring to this as the recovery rebate and will allow you to claim any of the EIPs that you did not get in advance. You may get a denial letter from the IRS, but that is the opportunity to reply and explain your situation to the IRS. In this situation, Vermonters with a low income can contact us for help at the Vermont Low-Income Taxpayer Clinic by filling out our form or calling 1-800-889-2047.

What If I Owe Child Support Payments Back Taxes Money To Creditors Or Debt Collectors Or Federal Or State Debt

VERIFY: Are you getting a 4th stimulus check?

None of the three stimulus checks can be reduced to pay any federal or state debts and back taxes. Unlike the first stimulus check, your second and third stimulus check cannot be reduced if you owe past-due child support payments.

Federal or State Debt
Protected Not protected

If you are claiming the payments as part of your 2020 tax refund , the payments are no longer protected from past-due child support payments, creditor and debt collectors, and other federal or state debt that you owe . In other words, if you receive your first or second stimulus checks as part of your tax refund instead of direct checks, it may be reduced.

Recommended Reading: The First Stimulus Check Amount

The Great Depression And The New Deal

In wake of the Great Depression, there was an assumption that the federal government would need to intervene. Within the first days of the Roosevelt administration, banking reform laws, emergency and work relief programs, as well as agriculture programs were passed. The First New Deal handled the pressing banking crisis through the Emergency Banking Act and the Banking Act of 1933. Economic challenges and unemployment persisted, and FDR launched what is now known as The Second New Deal , which was a series of programs referred to as alphabet soup. Programs created that remain today include: The Social Security Board , Securities and Exchange Commission , Federal Housing Administration , Federal Communications Commission , Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation , Farm Credit Administration , and Tennessee Valley Authority . Additional legislation passed included the Social Security Act, union protection programs, and programs for aid farmers and migrant workers.

In order to boost the economy and provide jobs, Congress passed a series of infrastructure bills that helped build major bridges, roads and other improvements including the Hoover Dam and the Golden Gate Bridge. The bills met the needs of modernization while supplying jobs and money to those suffering financially. The long-term effect of the New Deal programs set a precedent for the federal government to partake in economic, health, and social affairs within the United States.

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