Biden Signs Stimulus Bill

The push for a third stimulus check started in December before the second round of $600 payments were even authorized. So, we’ve had to wait a couple of months to see how this would all play out. But, on Thursday, President Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act, which authorizes another round of stimulus checks. So, finally, we now know that a third round of stimulus payments is coming…we just don’t know exactly when they will arrive.

According to White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, some people could start receiving electronic payments as soon as the March 13-14 weekend. This would just be the first wave of payments. More stimulus check payments would then be sent over the following weeks.

When second-round stimulus checks were authorized in December, the IRS started issuing electronic payments in less than one week. So, it shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise if the tax agency is able to repeat that feat and start sending payments within days this time around, too. Psaki recently noted that the IRS is “building on lessons learned from previous rounds to increase the number of households that will get electronic payments, which are substantially faster than checks.”

We don’t know yet how long it will take to distribute all payments. Hopefully, it will be a matter of weeks, not months, before the vast majority of third stimulus checks are delivered. We shall see.

Nevertheless, whether it’s in a few days or a couple of weeks, at least we know the payments will be sent soon. And since the IRS has bank account information for more Americans than it did when first-round stimulus checks were being processed, they will be able to deposit payments directly into bank accounts for most people. This will speed up the payment process considerably. That’s good news for Americans who have lost income because of the pandemic and desperately need the extra cash.

Tracking Your Third Stimulus Check

We expect the IRS to fire up the popular “Get My Payment” portal again so that you can track the status of your third stimulus check. The online tool lets you:

• Check the status of your stimulus payment;
• Confirm your payment type (paper check or direct deposit); and
• Get a projected direct deposit or paper check delivery date (or find out if a payment hasn’t been scheduled).

For first-round stimulus checks, you could also enter or change your bank account information to have your payment directly deposited into your account. But that feature wasn’t included in the tool for second-round payments. So, we’re not sure if you’ll be able to provide or update bank account information for the upcoming round of stimulus payments.

However, for first-round stimulus checks, you couldn’t use the “Get My Payment” portal to track the status of your payment if you didn’t file a tax return. Instead, there was another online tool that non-filers could use to give the IRS with the information it needed to process a payment. The non-filers tool wasn’t used for second stimulus checks, though. We don’t know if the tool will be used for third stimulus checks.

Calculating Your Third Stimulus Check Amount

Under the American Rescue Plan, every eligible person will receive a $1,400 third stimulus check “base amount.” For married couples that file a joint tax return, the base amount is $2,800. Then, for each dependent in your family, an additional $1,400 will be tacked on.

But not all people will receive the full amount. As with the first two stimulus payments, third-round stimulus checks will be reduced – potentially to zero – for people reporting an adjusted gross income (AGI) above a certain amount on their latest tax return. If you filed your most recent tax return as a single filer, your third stimulus check will be phased-out if your AGI is $75,000 or more. That threshold jumps to $112,500 for head-of-household filers, and to $150,000 for married couples filing a joint return. Third-round stimulus checks will be completely phased out for single filers with an AGI above $80,000, head-of-household filers with an AGI over $120,000, and joint filers with an AGI exceeding $160,000.