On March 12, Americans began receiving the third stimulus check timeline round of stimulus payments in their bank accounts. The IRS reports that as of May 26, it had distributed 167 million third stimulus check timeline payments totaling about $391 billion.
Third Stimulus Check Timeline – A Greater Payout with Stricter Income Restrictions
The new stimulus relief law provides single adults a one-time payment of $1,400. Married couples filing jointly will receive $2,800 ($1,400 each). Regardless of age, families will receive an additional $1,400 for each eligible dependent. A family of four could receive payments totaling $5,600. The third stimulus check timeline round of stimulus payments specifically forbids payments to anyone who passed away before January 1, 2020, just like the second round of payments did.
When to send – Third Stimulus Check Timeline
In less than a month, beginning on December 29, 2020, two days after then-President Donald Trump signed the $900 billion bill into law, the IRS distributed nearly all of the second round of the third stimulus check timeline.
For the IRS to quickly shift its focus to getting ready for the tax-filing season, Congress gave the IRS until January 15, 2021, to issue the majority of the 147 million payments. Following that, taxpayers were told to claim any unclaimed third stimulus check timeline funds from the first or second rounds as a tax credit on their 2020 tax returns.
It was challenging for the IRS to send out all of the third stimulus check timelines in less than a month and process millions of returns at the same time when the third stimulus check timeline round of payments arrived at the height of the 2020 tax filing season. The IRS pushed back the due date for filing and paying federal income taxes to May 17 to give itself some breathing room.
The third stimulus check timeline stimulus payment is being distributed in groups or tranches via direct deposit, postal mail, and check or debit card. According to the IRS, the vast majority of economic impact payments (EIPs) will be distributed via direct deposit, and it will continue to distribute batches of EIPs each week.
MARCH 12
The IRS sent the first batch of payments, which amounted to 90 million payments totaling about $242 billion, through the Treasury on March 12. Most recipients of these payments submitted 2019 or 2020 federal income tax returns or used the IRS Non-Filers Tool online.
Even though some payments may have already appeared in bank accounts before March 17, the direct deposit payments were due and payable as of that date. While most payments were made electronically, Treasury also mailed about 150,000 third stimulus check timelines totaling about $442 million.
MARCH 19
Direct deposit payments have a payable date of March 24, and the Treasury started the second wave of payments on March 19. With a total value of $83 billion, the second tranche included 37 million payments. Similar to the first tranche, the majority of payments were made to individuals who had submitted valid 2019 or 2020 tax returns or who had used the IRS online Non-Filers Tool.
The second wave of payments included about 17 million direct deposits worth $38 billion and about 15 million paper third stimulus check timeline worth roughly $34 billion. There were an additional 5 million prepaid debit cards, totaling $11 billion. The IRS advised individuals to carefully inspect their mail to prevent wasting it.
MARCH 26
People whose third stimulus check timeline was based on their 2019 tax returns but whose 2020 returns showed they were eligible for a larger payment started receiving supplemental payments from the IRS. Additionally, payments were made to those who filed tax returns in 2020 but for whom the IRS had no prior record of them. Payday officially is March 31. More than 4 million payments totaling more than $10 billion are part of this third stimulus check timeline batch. Half were sent via paper, the third stimulus check timeline, and the other half via direct deposit.
APRIL 2
Beneficiaries of Social Security, Supplemental Security Income (SSI), and Railroad Retirement Board who did not use the IRS Non-Filers Tool for the previous rounds of the third stimulus check timeline and did not file a 2019 or 2020 tax return began receiving their payments on April 2. More than 25 million payments totaling more than $36 billion were included in this batch, which has an official payment date of April 7. These recipients received the largest portion, 19 million worth $26 billion.
In this round, additional groups received stimulus payments. Beneficiaries of Supplemental Security Income (SSI) received more than 3 million payments worth a total of close to $5 billion. Beneficiaries of the Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) received close to 85,000 payments worth more than $119 million in total. More than 1 million of these “plus-up” payments, totaling more than $2 billion, were also sent by the IRS to taxpayers who had already received payments based on their 2019 tax returns but were still entitled to new or larger payments based on their recently processed 2020 tax returns.
APRIL 14
The fifth batch of payments, totaling two million payments worth more than $3.4 billion, and due on April 14, according to the Treasury department. 800,000 payments were made by paper third stimulus check timeline, and about 1.2 million were sent via direct deposit.
Veterans Affairs (VA) beneficiaries who receive Compensation and Pension (C&P) benefit payments but who typically don’t file a tax return and didn’t use the IRS online Non-Filers Tool last year received more than 320,000 payments worth a total of $450 million.
Nearly 850,000 payments totaling nearly $1.6 billion were made to eligible people for whom the IRS recently received tax return filing information but for whom the IRS did not previously have the information to issue stimulus payments. Another 72,000 payments were made to Social Security recipients who did not use the Non-Filers Tool in 2018 or file a 2020 or 2019 tax return.
Additionally, more than 700,000 supplemental payments were sent in this batch to individuals whose third stimulus check timeline was based on their 2019 returns but who are qualified for a higher payment based on their 2020 returns.
APRIL 21
Starting on April 16 and ending on April 21, the Treasury sent nearly 2 million payments through the IRS. This group of payments came to about $3.4 billion in total.
Social Security and SSI recipients, including those with foreign addresses, received about 600,000 payments. Another 700,000 went to people for whom the IRS recently filed a tax return but did not previously have any information to send third stimulus check timeline payments.
The remaining funds were used to “plus up” payments made to recipients of prior stimulus payments based on their 2019 tax returns. Based on their 2020 return, these people received additional stimulus funding.
APRIL 28
Beginning on April 23 and ending on April 28, the IRS sent nearly 2 million payments totaling more than $4.3 billion. Approximately 1.1 million direct deposit payments totaling $2.5 billion and approximately 850,000 paper third stimulus check timeline payments totaling more than $1.8 billion make up this batch’s eleventh payments.
Similar to the previous week, the majority of the payments were made to individuals who had never previously registered with the IRS. The remainder was used to “plus up” stimulus check recipients who had already received payments based on their 2019 tax returns.
MAY 5
Beginning on April 30, the IRS sent more than 1.1 million payments totaling more than $2 billion, with a pay date of May 5. More than 585,000 payments were made to people about whom the IRS had no prior knowledge. The remaining amounts were “plus-up” payments made to individuals who had previously received third stimulus check timeline checks based on their 2019 tax return. This batch of payments included about 600,000 direct deposits and the remaining payments were made with paper checks.
MAY 12
Nearly 1 million payments were delivered by the IRS, with a pay date of May 12. The total value of the EIPs was $388 million. Most of those payments were made to people for whom the IRS had no prior information. The remaining amounts were “plus-up” payments made to individuals whose payments were based on their 2019 tax return but who later filed a 2020 return.
MAY 26
In this wave of EIPs, the IRS distributed more than 1.8 million payments totaling about $3.5 billion. About 900,000 eligible recipients received the payments, for whom the IRS had no prior data. Additionally, “plus up” payments were made to individuals whose earlier EIPs were based on their 2019 returns and who subsequently filed a 2020 return.
You still haven’t gotten your third stimulus payment.
The Treasury will continue to receive checks from the IRS. Most people who have already received their first or second payment don’t need to take any additional steps to receive their third stimulus check timeline payment, which is frequently sent out automatically. Payments should be made automatically to those whose:
federal tax returns for 2019 or 2020 were filed. The taxpayer’s most recent processed return will be used by the IRS.
- By November 21, 2020, you must have registered for the initial stimulus payments through the IRS.gov non-filer portal.
- receive benefits from the Railroad Retirement Board, Veterans Affairs (VA), Social Security (retirement and disability), or Supplemental Security Income (SSI).
- The third stimulus check timeline payment will typically be distributed in the same manner as the other two payments to recipients of Social Security and other federal benefits.
You can give the IRS information for a stimulus third stimulus check timeline and track the status of payments using the Get My Payment tool.
The IRS will determine the difference if you received a payment based on your 2019 return but later discovered that you were entitled to more based on your 2020 return.
Conclusion
The third stimulus check timeline round of stimulus payments has stricter income restrictions. To qualify for the maximum payment, single taxpayers who filed their 2019 or 2020 federal taxes must have had an adjusted gross income of $75,000 or less. The cap is $112,500 for the head of household income and $150,000 for couples. Payments are gradually reduced until they reach the maximum amounts, which are $160,000 for joint filers, $80,000 for single filers, and $120,000 for heads of household. (To calculate how much you’ll get, use our Coronavirus Stimulus Check Calculator.)
