Nearly 1 million more stimulus payments from the passage of the American Rescue Plan COVID relief bill in March went out Wednesday. They include almost a half-million "plus-up" payments, the IRS said.
Americans who made up to $75,000 in 2020 will get the maximum $1,400 check under the American Rescue Plan. Couples who file taxes jointly and made up to $150,000 will get $2,800. The amount received decreases to zero for individuals who made up to $80,000 and couples who earned $160,000. There's a $1,400 kicker for each dependent in the household.
Wednesday's 960,000 payments mark the ninth batch of checks to go out since the bill was signed by President Joe Biden on March 11.The IRS said this batch included 500,000 payments for those people whom the agency did not previously have information on in order to deliver the money.
There are also 460,000 "plus-up" payments worth more than $800 million in this batch, the IRS said. These recipients may not initially have been eligible to receive the payments based on their 2019 tax returns because they made too much income. But they are eligible now because they lost income in 2020. Now that they filed their 2020 returns to report this income loss, or if they added a dependent, they are now eligible.
About 500,000 payments were deposited directly into bank accounts. The rest went out by mail as paper checks.
Approximately 165 million payments worth than $388 billion have gone out, according to the IRS, with more expected to go out in the coming weeks. Because tax filing season has been extended to this coming Monday, May 17, more "plus-up" payments are likely.
The IRS reminds those who have yet to receive a stimulus payment, but don't normally file their taxes, that they need to submit a 2020 tax return to get their check and any tax credits they may be eligible for.
