With the House and Senate both approving the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill and President Joe Biden signing it into law on Thursday, 160 million households are in the process of receiving the long-awaited stimulus checks.
According to the officials, the first batch of payments will be sent by direct deposit, which some recipients started receiving as early as March 12. Additional batches of payments will be sent in the coming weeks in these ways: by direct deposit, through the mail, or as a check or debit card.
The first ones to receive the checks are most probably those who have already a direct deposit set up with the IRS. According to CNBC, it’s because the government already has their account information on file and doesn’t need to go through the process of printing, sorting and mailing physical checks or pre-paid debit cards. Meanwhile, Americans who don’t yet have direct deposit set up will likely have to wait a little longer for the checks to reach them.
Among many possible issues to do with the actual payments is the fear of the money getting deposited into the wrong bank account, which happened in the last round of checks. If that happens, further delays in transfers are also very likely.
For those Americans who didn’t receive the full amount of the first or second stimulus payments they were eligible for, they may be able to claim them as a 2020 Recovery Rebate Credit. In that case, they have to file a 2020 tax return. However, the third stimulus payment will not be used to calculate the 2020 Recovery Rebate Credit. More information on the procedure can be found right here.
To find out how much money you could get under the American Rescue Plan, check out the Grow calculator. Also, check the payment status of your stimulus check here.
