WASHINGTON (AP) – Along with daylight saving time, this weekend could bring some fatter bank balances for some Americans.
Treasury Department and IRS officials said Friday that processing for the new round of stimulus payments had already started, with the goal that the first payments would start appearing in bank accounts this weekend.
President Joe Biden signed the new $ 1.9 trillion bailout package on Thursday, a day after final House approval. Measure provides payments to qualified individuals up to $ 1,400, with payments to a qualified family of four for $ 5,600.
“Payments will be automatically delivered to taxpayers, even if the IRS continues to deliver regular tax refunds,” said IRS commissioner Chuck Rettig in a statement.
It is estimated that 85% of Americans will be entitled to payments and the goal is to have millions of payments disbursed in the coming weeks.
The relief measure, which went through party votes in the House and Senate, contains the third round of economic impact payments. The first round approved last spring provided up to $ 2,000 per individual, and a second round of payments in December provided up to $ 600 per individual.
The last package was approved without votes from Republicans, who opposed the size of the measure and argued that it was not necessary, given signs that the economy is starting to recover.
Then-President Donald Trump considered payments on the $ 900 billion bailout bill approved in December to be too small and Biden agreed, bringing the total to an individual to $ 1,400 in the new package.
The latest round of relief payments will provide families with $ 1,400 for each adult, child and dependent adult, such as college students or elderly relatives. Adult dependents were not eligible to receive payments in the previous two payment rounds.
Payments begin to decline for an individual when the adjusted gross income exceeds $ 75,000 and goes to zero when the income reaches $ 80,000. The payment starts to decrease for couples when the income exceeds $ 150,000 and goes to zero at $ 160,000.
Authorities said that as of Monday, people can check the “Get My Payment” tool on the IRS.gov website to track their own payments.
Taxpayers who provided bank information to the IRS will receive direct deposit payments, while others will receive paper checks or debit cards in the mail.
The authorities said that, in the interest of accelerating exemption payments, the IRS will use the latest available tax return, be it the 2019 tax return filed last year or the 2020 tax return that expires until April 15.
If a person’s work situation changed in the past year because of the pandemic, which has caused millions of people to lose their jobs or be forced to work shorter hours, the authorities said the IRS will adjust the size of the new impact payments after the 2020 declaration and provide an additional payment if necessary. The authorities said that these adjustments will be made automatically by the IRS for people who have already submitted their 2020 statements.
The authorities said they wanted to handle payments in this way, rather than waiting for the 2020 income tax return to be filed in the interest of speeding up payments to taxpayers.