Treasury candidate Janet Yellen speaks after President-elect Joe Biden announced his economic team at the Queen Theater in Wilmington, Delaware on December 1, 2020.
Chandan Khanna | AFP | Getty Images
The Internal Revenue Service began processing stimulus checks on Friday that have already been posted to Americans’ bank accounts and are expected to arrive throughout the weekend.
Treasury Department and IRS officials told reporters Friday afternoon that most Americans do not need to take any additional action to receive their payments and that most are delivered by direct deposit.
“Despite tax season in full swing, IRS staff have again worked around the clock to provide quick relief to millions of Americans struggling with this historic pandemic,” IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig said in a press release .
IRS officials said the full $ 1,400 payments will be made to individuals with gross adjusted income up to $ 75,000, heads of household with incomes up to $ 112,500, and married couples who share Submit an annual income of up to $ 150,000.
As with previous stimulus checks, payments will be reduced for those with incomes above these thresholds. This time, however, the Senate lowered the income level, at which the payments are gradually zeroed. Unlike previous rounds of checks, families receive one payment for all of their dependents claimed on a tax return, not just for their qualified children under the age of 17.
The third round of payments is based on the taxpayer’s last processed tax return in 2020 or 2019. Americans can use the Get My Payment tool to check the status of their third payment starting Monday.
The stimulus checks, officially known as economic impact payments, are an integral part of the $ 1.9 trillion Covid Biden aid package signed on Thursday. The landmark legislation instructs the Treasury Department to send direct payments of up to $ 1,400 to most Americans.
The bill also extends the $ 300 weekly unemployment insurance increase through September 6 and increases the child tax credit by one year. In addition, nearly $ 20 billion will be invested in Covid-19 vaccination efforts, $ 25 billion in rental and utility services, and $ 350 billion in state, local, and tribal aid.
One of Biden’s top economic advisors, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen campaigned for the US rescue plan to get US trade going again. She repeatedly warned that the economy – and the workforce in particular – could take much longer to recover without another big ticket bailout.
“We think it’s very important to have a big package [that] addresses the pain this has caused – 15 million Americans are behind on their rent, 24 million adults and 12 million children who don’t have enough to eat, small businesses fail, “Yellen said in February ahead of the bill opposite CNBC.
“I think these checks will really bring relief and help boost our economy and give people money to spend when we can get out and go back to our previous lives,” she added.
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