Wondering where your $600 stimulus check is? If you qualify, you should see your payment any day now.
Congress passed the direct payments as part of its massive $900 billion stimulus package last week and, after President Donald Trump threatened to veto it over the size of the payments, he signed it anyway.
When will I get my payment?
The U.S. Treasury planned to start sending electronic deposits on Tuesday night and mailing paper checks on Wednesday, officials said.
Treasury officials say you’ll be able to check the status of your payment later this week here. The delivery method is the same as for the first round Congress approved in the spring.
If you got your spring $1,200 payment electronically deposited into your bank account, the IRS will do the same thing this time. If the IRS doesn’t have a bank account on file (for example, if you didn’t have your 2019 tax refund direct deposited), the agency will send you a paper check or a debit card with the payment loaded onto it.
For people getting their $600 stimulus payment electronically, expect it this week or next (Friday is a federal holiday). If you’re waiting on a paper check, it could take weeks.
Either way, the IRS says you don’t have to register or do anything else to get your money. So, if you’re contacted by someone asking for information, be aware it could be a scam.
How much will I get?
For the most part, if you got a stimulus payment in the spring, you’re getting another one now.
The main difference is the size of the payment: $1,200 per qualified adult in the spring round, but only $600 now. Families got $500 per qualified dependent under age 17 in the spring; that’s been upped to $600 this time.
The income limits are similar, too. A person who made less than $75,000 in 2019 (or $150,000 for a married couple) will get the full amount. The payment begins to phase out above that, and ends completely at $87,000 (or $174,000 for a married couple).
The IRS is using 2019’s taxes because, well, we haven’t filed 2020 taxes yet, so it’s the most recent income information the feds have about you.
You can check the size of your stimulus check using an online calculator, like this one.
Will payments go to $2,000?
Not anytime soon.
Trump has been pushing for Congress to increase the $600 payment to $2,000, but the effort appears doomed because of opposition from congressional Republicans.
On Monday, the Democratic-controlled House passed a bill 275-134 to authorize $2,000 checks. (The measure required 272 votes to mass, meaning it barely cleared the hurdle.) Most Republicans voted against it.
A day later, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said the Senate would not vote on the $2,000 checks as a standalone bill — even as some Republican senators, including two Georgia senators who face competitive elections on Jan. 5, endorsed the larger checks.
McConnell has introduced a bill including $2,000 checks along with two other Trump priorities: an investigation into election fraud, and repealing liability limits for tech companies.
Democrats are unlikely to go along with a bill that includes all three things.
If Congress somehow does approve $2,000 checks, the bill would likely be written in a way that allows Treasury to simply top up the $600 payments it’s already sent out.
The Millennial Miser 