Mar 10, 2021
White House Says $1,400 Payments Will Begin Arriving This Month
, Bloomberg News
(Bloomberg) -- Households will begin receiving the $1,400 stimulus payments included in the pandemic-relief bill approved by Congress before the end of March, according to the White House.
“The Treasury and IRS are working to ensure that we will be able to start getting payments out this month,” the White House said in a blog post Wednesday. Government agencies “are building on lessons learned from previous rounds of payments to increase the number of households that will get electronic payments, which are substantially faster than checks,” the post said.
President Joe Biden plans to sign the $1.9 trillion stimulus legislation into law on Friday, a package that includes more than $410 billion of direct payments for most Americans.
Individuals who earn as much as $75,000, or couples making $150,000, plus their children or adult dependents, qualify for the full $1,400 per person. Single parents with at least one dependent who earn $112,500 or less also get the full amount. Families in which some members have different citizenship and immigration classifications are also eligible for a payment, if at least one person has a Social Security number.
The payments phase out much more quickly than in previous rounds: An individual with income of $80,000, or a couple with $160,000, get nothing.
For those who have already filed their tax returns, the IRS will use income data for 2020 to determine eligibility and size of payments. For people who have yet to file, the IRS will review 2019 tax data to determine the payments.
The IRS will send the payments via direct deposit for individuals for whom they have bank-account information on file. Social Security, Veterans Affairs, and other federal benefit recipients will receive their payments the same way they typically get their monthly transfers. Others will be sent paper checks or prepaid debit cards.
Other aid in the bill that Biden will sign spans jobless benefits to child tax credits. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said, “This legislation puts nearly $1 trillion in the pockets of the American people.”
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