The first COVID-19 stimulus checks, authorized by the CARES Act in March 2020, provided $1,200 for eligible adults and $500 for dependent children under age 17. These direct payments were sent to individuals with adjusted gross incomes up to $75,000 ($150,000 for married couples).
Congress has approved two rounds of stimulus checks. The first round included a $1,200 payment from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, which was signed into law last March.
Congress passed the $1.9 trillion relief package with a third round of $1,400 stimulus checks, topping off the $600 second stimulus payments and adding up to $2,000 for millions of Americans.
The 2021 stimulus payments were worth up to $1,400 per individual, or $2,800 per married couple. A family of four could receive up to $5,600 with two eligible dependents.
All second stimulus checks were issued by January 15, 2021. If you didn't get a second stimulus check by then (mailed checks may take longer to deliver), you can claim your second stimulus check as the Recovery Rebate Tax Credit on your 2020 tax return. You must file a 2020 tax return by May 17, 2024.
Some of you may have received a $1,200 payment in April 2020 either in the form of a paper check or a direct deposit into your bank account. A second round of $600 payments is going out in late December 2020/early January 2021. The IRS sends these payments to anyone who filed a resident tax return for 2018 and/or 2019.
It doesn't seem likely there will be a fourth stimulus check, but keep in mind that the politicians who vote on it, said many times there would never be a third stimulus check. In fact, Democrats already are gathering support, though their goal appears to be for recurring payments to the lowest-income Americans.
More than half of the payments were sent out in the first three weeks, much faster than similar payments had been issued in previous recessions; however, some households didn't receive their funds until several months later.
You can no longer claim the first or second stimulus payment(s) on a 2020 or tax return since that expired on May 17, 2024. If you did not receive your third stimulus check, this is to be claimed on your 2021 Tax Return as the Recovery Rebate Credit or RRC.
First and Second Stimulus Check
You will need to file a tax return for Tax Year 2020 (which you file in 2021). The deadline to file your taxes was last October 15, 2021. If you missed the October 2021 filing deadline, you can still file your tax return to get your first and second stimulus checks.
On January 14, prior to being inaugurated as president, Biden announced the $1.9 trillion stimulus package.
To compare, the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 —which authorized the Treasury Secretary to create the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP)—and the $840 billion stimulus package under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 cost a combined roughly $1.5 trillion.
Historical content – the 2020 Recovery Rebate Credit
The deadline to claim the Recovery Rebate Credit for the first and second stimulus checks was May 17, 2024. While you can no longer claim these payments, below describes who may have needed to file to get these stimulus checks.
Between 2021 and 2021, the federal government issued three Economic Impact Payments to help cushion the financial impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. The third and final stimulus check went out in the spring of 2021, providing up to $1,400 for individual filers and $2,800 for married couples filing jointly.
If you did not receive your first or second stimulus payment, or if it was for the wrong amount, you'll need to file a tax return for the 2020 tax year (by May 17, 2021 unless you request an extension). You'll file Form 1040 or Form 1040-SR (tax return for seniors).
Qualification for the $1,400 stimulus check (the third Economic Impact Payment) in 2021 depended on your 2021 Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) and filing status, with full amounts for single filers earning up to $75,000 (phasing out at $80,000) and joint filers up to $150,000 (phasing out at $160,000), plus $1,400 per dependent; you needed a valid Social Security Number and had to claim it as the Recovery Rebate Credit on your 2021 tax return if you missed the payment, with deadlines typically in April 2025.
Yes, the IRS announced in late 2024 it would send up to $1,400 to about 1 million taxpayers who missed claiming the 2021 Recovery Rebate Credit (third stimulus payment) by automatically issuing payments via direct deposit or paper check, using 2023 tax return info, with most expected by early 2025; eligible individuals who didn't receive these funds might still get them if they filed a 2021 return by the April 15, 2025 deadline. These payments were for those who didn't receive the full third stimulus or didn't claim the credit, with amounts depending on income, filing status, and dependents.
Single adults who reported a 2019 tax return with an adjusted gross income of $75,000 or less are eligible to receive $600. Married couples who filed jointly with an adjusted gross income of up to $150,000 will qualify to receive $1,200. Families with children under 17 will receive an additional $600 for each child.
The $900 billion stimulus bill required the IRS to send all second stimulus checks by January 15, 2021. Eligible recipients who did not get a payment by the cutoff date now have to claim their money as a Recovery Rebate Credit on their 2020 tax return (which needs to be filed by April 15, 2021).
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, also known as the CARES Act, is a $2.2 trillion economic stimulus bill passed by the 116th United States Congress and signed into law by President Donald Trump on March 27, 2020, in response to the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States.