IRS Begins Sending Out New COVID Stimulus Payments

The IRS said it has begun distributing the third round of COVID-19 stimulus checks from the new spending bill that just became law.

The Internal Revenue Service has begun distributing the new round of stimulus payments to Americans now that the American Rescue Plan Act has been enacted.

Update: As of March 17, the IRS said that the Treasury Department has distributed approximately 90 million stimulus payments from the American Rescue Plan.

As before, the first batch of payments will be sent by direct deposit, some of which may have arrived as early as this past weekend and more will be arriving this week. Although the vast majority of payments will be made via direct deposit, additional payments will be sent by paper checks in the mail or debit cards.

The IRS said that no action is required by most taxpayers to receive their payments, but they can check the status of their payment with the Get My Payment tool on irs.gov.

$1,400 Stimulus Payments

Most people will get $1,400 payments for themselves and qualifying dependents claimed on their tax returns. This new round of stimulus payments will be based on the taxpayer’s latest processed tax return for either 2019 or 2020.

Income eligibility is based on individuals making up to $75,000 per year and $2,800 for couples making up to $150,000 per year.

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Ian Smith is one of the co-founders of FedSmith.com. He has over 20 years of combined experience in media and government services, having worked at two government contracting firms and an online news and web development company prior to his current role at FedSmith.