IRS announces new round of COVID relief payments en route



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WASHINGTON (AP) – In addition to daylight saving time, this weekend could bring some Americans bigger bank balances.

Officials from the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service said on Friday that processing of the new round of stimulus payments has already started, with the goal of the first payments starting to appear in bank accounts this weekend.

President Joe Biden signed the new $ 1.9 trillion bailout on Thursday, the day after his final passage through the House. Measurement provides payments to eligible individuals of up to $ 1,400, and payments to an eligible family of four of $ 5,600.

“Payments will automatically flow to taxpayers even as the IRS continues to provide regular tax refunds,” IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig said in a statement.

It is estimated that 85% of Americans will be eligible for payments and the goal is to have millions of payments made within the next few weeks.

The relief measure, which was passed by online votes in both the House and Senate, contains the third round of economic impact payments. The first round last spring provided up to $ 2,000 per person, and a second round of payments in December provided up to $ 600 per person.

The latest package passed without a vote from Republicans, who opposed the size of the measure and argued it was not necessary given signs the economy is starting to recover.

Then-President Donald Trump called the payments in the $ 900 billion relief bill passed in December too small and Biden agreed, pushing the total for an individual to $ 1,400 in the new package. .

The latest round of relief payments will provide households with $ 1,400 for each adult, child and dependent adult, such as students or elderly parents. Dependent adults were not eligible to receive payments in the previous two payment cycles.

Payments begin to decline for an individual once adjusted gross income exceeds $ 75,000 and drop to zero once income reaches $ 80,000. The payment begins to decrease for married couples when the income exceeds $ 150,000 and drops to zero at $ 160,000.

Officials said that starting Monday, people can use the “Get My Payment” tool on the IRS.gov website to track their own payments.

Taxpayers who have provided banking information to the IRS will receive payments by direct deposit, while others will receive paper checks or debit cards in the mail.

Officials have said that in the interest of speeding up relief payments, the IRS will use the latest available tax return, either the 2019 return filed last year or the 2020 return that is due by the 15th. April.

If a person’s employment status changed in the past year due to the pandemic, which has led to millions of people losing their jobs or being forced to work reduced hours, officials said the IRS will adjust the size of new impact payments after the 2020 return is filed, and provide additional payment if required. Officials said those adjustments would be made automatically by the IRS for people who have already filed their 2020 returns.

Officials said they wanted to handle payments this way rather than waiting for the 2020 tax return to be filed in the interests of speeding up payments to taxpayers.

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