It is becoming increasingly difficult to live in this era, and with the pandemic, it has become nothing less than pure survival. With prices of everything, from electricity to medical bills on the rise, the problems never end. To help the public during the adverse times of the Corona outbreak, the government has provided various kinds of assistance, one of them being stimulus checks.
Stimulus checks, also known as Economic Impact Payments, are the payments that were provided by the Internal Revenue Service department to the citizens of America to assist them during the pandemic. There were three rounds of these payments that were sent around. The first was $1,200, the second was $600, and the third amount was $1,400. To receive these checks, you need to be a citizen of America or a resident alien, you also need a Social Security number, you can’t be a dependent, and your gross income must be less than a certain limit.
During the third Economic Impact Payment round, some people also received some plus-up payments. Plus-up payments were the payments for those who were entitled to a bigger amount than the one they received after their tax return in 2020. All the payments were issued by December 31, 2021.
Stimulus checks –
Stimulus checks, more formally known as Economic Impact Payment, is a type of financial assistance provided by the government of the USA to American citizens to cope with the Coronavirus crisis. These checks were for the taxpayers by the Internal Revenue Service, which is the American government Revenue Service looking over the matters related to taxes in the US. It was even provided to those who don’t file taxes. Some received the money through the checks mailed to them and some through direct bank deposits and as a plus point, the amount was non-taxable too.
These checks were a result of the Coronavirus Aid Relief and Economic Security Act. Three rounds of these payments were issued to the people. The first economic payments were issued starting from April 2020 and were $1,200. The second stimulus check started to be distributed in December 2020, for $600. The third recovery rebates were $1,400 and started to be issued in March 2021.
The Eligibility For The Stimulus Checks Determined:
There were no extensive criteria that needed to be followed to be eligible for the payments. Being an American citizen, and if not, being a resident alien was a must. You couldn’t be a dependent. You also needed a Social Security number or if your husband or your wife is a military member, only one of you needed a Social Security number as a married couple. This condition was changed in 2020, and if because of this someone had not received their check, they were able to do so by claiming it as the recovery rebate tax credit.
There was no minimum income requirement, you could have no or limited income and you may also not be required to file taxes, but it didn’t make you ineligible for the payments. Your gross income should be less than $75,000 and if it was more than that, then the amount of the payment was reduced.
Process To Get The Payments:
If some other benefits from the Railroad Retirement Board, from the Department of Veterans Affairs, or SSDI or SSI from the Social Security Administration are provided to you, you would not have to do anything else, you should automatically get the payments the same way. You may not even need to do anything if you met all of the above requirements, you would have received the payments based on the last tax return you filed. If some additional information was required, you could provide it to them through the IRS portal, and in the case that you don’t file taxes, you could submit an online form through the IRS non-filers portal.
Payment Amounts –
If your gross income is less than $75,000, for the first round of Economic Impact Payment, you would have received the amount of $12,00 per individual, $24,00 for married couples, $500 for a child below 17, and $3,400 for a family in which the number of members are four. For the second round of payments, the amount was $600 for adults as well as for children. The amount was $1,400 per adult, $2,800 per married couple, and $1,400 for dependents, for the third round of payments. If your gross income is more than $75,000, you would have not received the full amount and the EIP amount would have been reduced accordingly.
Plus Up Payments And Deadlines –
For the third round of Economic Impact Payments, people received the amount on the basis of their tax returns for the year 2019, but because of the COVID crisis, the income of some people was less in 2020, so they should have received more amount than what they got as EIP. Plus-up payments were those additional amounts.
All the payments for the first round were issued by 31 December 2020, for the second round by 15 January 2021, and by 31 December 2021 for the third round.
Conclusion –
Throughout the pandemic, the US government has provided economic assistance to the citizens through three EIPs, more commonly known as stimulus checks. They were $12,00, $600, and $14,00 respectively for each round and even some plus-up payments in the last round. There were no extraordinary criteria for eligibility and all the payments were issued by December 31, 2021.
FAQs
1) Did every American citizen receive the plus-up payment?
Answer – No, only those people were entitled to the plus-up payments whose income was less in 2020 compared to in 2019.
2) What was the upper-income limit to be eligible for the stimulus checks?
Answer – Your income should be less than $75,000 to receive the full amount, but it can’t be more than $99,000 to receive the reduced amount too.
