After stimulus money is approved, when will checks arrive?

Published 5:53 am Monday, December 21, 2020

Top Capitol Hill negotiators sealed a deal on a $900 billion COVID-19 economic relief package, finally delivering long-overdue help to businesses and individuals and providing money to deliver vaccines to a nation eager for them.

The package, expected to draw votes in Congress on Monday, would establish a temporary $300 per week supplemental jobless benefit and a $600 direct stimulus payment to most Americans, along with a new round of subsidies for hard-hit businesses and money for schools, health care providers and renters facing eviction.

House leaders informed lawmakers that they would vote on the legislation on Monday, and the Senate was likely to vote on Monday, too. Lawmakers were eager to leave Washington and close out a tumultuous year.

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The new round of stimulus checks will be up to $600 for individuals and $1,200 for married couples with the same income limits as the previous round. Singles earning less than $75,000 or couples earning less than $150,000 will receive the full amounts, with checks being reduced based on income above those levels.

After Congress approves the bill and President Trump signs it, the IRS and Treasury would likely send the first batch of payments faster than last time. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has said it would take about a week from the time that another stimulus check is approved to the time the IRS could process the first batch.

Payments are expected to be delivered in the same order and via the same methods as the previous check, with people who have direct deposit information set up with the IRS receiving their money first with electronic transfers to their accounts. The second wave of payments will be paper checks to those without direct deposit information on file.

Using data from the first round of checks in the spring, CNET reports that delivery of direct deposits will likely to begin in the first two weeks of the new year and the delivery of paper checks will likely a week later.