Third stimulus check: how long will the payments be issued?

When Congress passed the American Rescue Plan in March, it specified that the Internal Revenue Service had until the end of the year to disburse the direct payments. Since payments began 12 March, the day after the bill was signed into law, the agency has sent over 165 million payments.

The IRS data on payments distributed over the ten weeks since the first payments include “plus-up” payments which are corrections of original payments in the third round of Economic Impact Payments (EIP). These supplemental checks were sent after the IRS processed a 2020 tax return and the taxpayer was found to be eligible for a larger payment.

Also see:

• What to know about new direct payments from the IRS in July
• American Rescue Plan changes increase eligibility for the Child and Dependent Care Credit.
• How to claim the 2021 Child and Dependent Care tax credit
• $867 billion was slated for stimulus checks, how much has gone out?

The IRS has until the end of the year to issue the third round of stimulus checks

Compared with the early weeks of payments going out the size of the last reported batch of payments was a trickle. Anyone who had filed a 2019 tax return should most likely have received a payment from the third round of EIP, one possible exception being those whose 2019 tax return is part of the IRS backlog.

As the agency processes 2020 tax returns it will continue to send out new payments weekly to individuals for whom the IRS did not previously have information on record but have now filed a tax return allowing the IRS to send a payment. According to the most recent data from the IRS well over 5 million payments have been sent out to these filers.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the third round of stimulus checks will cost the government around $411 billion. So far, the agency has disbursed $388 billion, leaving just over nine percent of the money budgeted, yet to be sent. The IRS will continue the weekly batches until the end of the year.

Taxpayers must file a tax return to get their stimulus check

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Anyone who doesn’t file a 2020 tax return this year will have to wait to claim their $1,400, or the amount that they are eligible to receive, through the 2021 Recovery Rebate Credit. Much the same way that this year a taxpayer who was eligible for a larger payment in 2020, but their 2019 tax return didn’t reflect that, could claim that money when they filed their 2020 tax return.

The IRS urges tax payers who haven’t filed yet, to do so as soon as possible to receive any of the tax provisions that they may be eligible for from the American Rescue Plan. One provision that will help families with children, the Child Tax Credit, will start sending direct payments to eligible families in July.