New batch of third stimulus checks: who is receiving the payments?
The IRS is continuing to distribute the direct payments as part of the American Rescue Plan, with millions more payments going out every week for the rest of 2021.
On Wednesday the IRS confirmed that they have sent out the next batch of payments as part of the ongoing distribution of the third stimulus check.
The latest tranche of payments saw another 2.3 million people get the financial support, taking the total number of payments to 169 million. Although the vast majority of eligible Americans have now received their full entitlement, the IRS is only able to make some payments as they work through a backlog of 2020 tax returns.
Who has received the latest stimulus check payments?
In a statement released on Wednesday, the IRS announced that the 2.3 million payments had comprised more than $4.2 billion in federal spending. They were able to split those payments into two main groups:
- New information – In some cases the IRS did not previously have sufficient information on file to make a payment, but the recent tax returns have provided the relevant details. This week the IRS was able to make more than 900,000 payments, worth roughly $1.9 billion, to this group.
- Supplementary payments - Anyone who suffered a loss of income during 2020 may now be eligible for a larger payment than initially thought. The IRS is sending out supplementary ‘plus-up’ payments for those affected, accounting for more than 1.1 million of this batch of payments.
Of the 2.3 million payments included in the latest batch, more than 1.2 million were sent out as direct deposits into the recipient’s bank while the remainder was sent as a physical check.
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How many more stimulus check payments are being sent out?
The IRS is attempting to work through a huge filing backlog that was reportedly more than 30 million returns last month. As they process this enormous amount of outstanding returns they will continue to find millions of newly eligible recipients for the direct support.
As such, the IRS will continue to send out payments as part of the third round of stimulus checks on a weekly basis for the rest of 2021.
If you have not yet filed a tax return for the year then it may be worth doing so to ensure that you are not missing out on money that you are entitled to. Not only is eligibility for the stimulus checks based on tax return information, but it could also determine whether or not you are entitled to the monthly Child Tax Credit payments which are scheduled to begin from 15 July.