Coming to Your Mailbox: One Million More ‘Plus-Up’ Stimulus Checks
These top-off funds, according to the agency, are for taxpayers “who earlier in March received payments based on their 2019 tax returns but are eligible for a new or larger payment based on their recently processed 2020 tax returns.”
Although nearly 90 percent of all coronavirus stimulus checks for this current third round of payments under President Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan have been sent out, know that there are still millions of eligible Americans who have yet to see a dime from the federal government.
Earlier this week, though, the Internal Revenue Service surely improved the lives of many struggling taxpayers when it announced that more than 2.3 million more stimulus payments were issued, boosting the total number of checks sent out to date to roughly one hundred sixty-nine million. That massive total represents a hefty monetary value of $395 billion.
Like the last several batches of payments, the current eleventh once again featured a sizeable number of checks for those who qualify for the so-called “plus-up” or supplemental payments. In fact, the total sent out this week surpassed one million with a value of more than $2.5 billion. The IRS has confirmed that more than eight million of such payments have been disbursed to date and more will continue to go out on a weekly basis.
These top-off funds, according to the agency, are for taxpayers “who earlier in March received payments based on their 2019 tax returns but are eligible for a new or larger payment based on their recently processed 2020 tax returns.”
For example, “these ‘plus-up’ payments could include a situation where a person’s income dropped in 2020 compared to 2019, or a person had a new child or dependent on their 2020 tax return, and other situations.”
As for when eligible taxpayers can expect to see these funds in their bank accounts, take note that roughly half are being delivered via USPS as paper checks or prepaid debit cards, so they could currently be in transit.
Keep in mind that another large portion of the new batch was dedicated to recent tax filers who previously did not have the necessary information—such as address and bank account numbers—on file at the IRS. One option that non-filers have right now is that they can apply for an extension and file by the October 15 deadline.
The IRS writes: “Although payments are automatic for most people, the IRS continues to urge people who don’t normally file a tax return and haven’t received Economic Impact Payments to file a 2020 tax return to get all the benefits they’re entitled to under the law, including tax credits such as the 2020 Recovery Rebate Credit, the Child Tax Credit, and the Earned Income Tax Credit. Filing a 2020 tax return will also assist the IRS in determining whether someone is eligible for an advance payment of the 2021 Child Tax Credit, which will begin to be disbursed this summer.”
Ethen Kim Lieser is a Minneapolis-based Science and Tech Editor who has held posts at Google, The Korea Herald, Lincoln Journal Star, AsianWeek, and Arirang TV. Follow or contact him on LinkedIn.