In light of the economic crisis the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has caused, Congress approved two rounds of stimulus checks. The first stimulus check included a $1,200-payment under the 2020 Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, while the second relief package pays up to $600 per person.
How big will your stimulus check be?
The size of both stimulus checks depends on your tax filing status, adjusted gross income (AGI), and whether you file as a single or joint filer. Below is the breakdown of the first stimulus check:
Single filers
- $1,200 (AGI: $75,000)
- $950 (AGI: $80,000)
- $700 (AGI: $85,000)
- $450 (AGI: $90,000)
- $200 (AGI: $95,000)
- $0 (AGI: $99,000+)
Joint filers
- $2,400 (AGI: $150,000)
- $1,900 (AGI: $160,000)
- $1,400 (AGI: $170,000)
- $900 (AGI: $180,000)
- $400 (AGI: $190,000)
- $0 (AGI: $198,000+)
The second stimulus check offers half the amount that the first check did because the Senate Republicans blocked the vote to increase the amount from the previous $1,200 to $2,000. Here is the breakdown of the second stimulus check:
Single filers
- $600 (AGI: $75,000)
- $480 (AGI: $77,400)
- $360 (AGI: $79,800)
- $240 (AGI: $82,200)
- $120 (AGI: $84,600)
- $0 (AGI: $87,000 and above)
Joint filers
- $1,200 (AGI: $150,000)
- $960 (AGI: $154,800)
- $720 (AGI: $159,600)
- $480 (AGI: $164,400)
- $240 (AGI: $169,200)
- $0 (AGI: $174,000 and above)
When you will receive the stimulus checks
The IRS sent out the electronic payments for the first stimulus checks on April 11, 2020, and most people received theirs by April 15, 2020. Paper checks were in the mail by April 24, 2020, but some Americans only got these by late summer or early fall.
The IRS announced on December 29, 2020, that it has started sending out the electronic payments for the second stimulus checks, and paper checks will take the longest. On January 14, 2021, Joe Biden, the newly-sworn President of the US, announced a third coronavirus relief package worth $1.9 trillion, which includes a stimulus payment of up to $1,400.