The stimulus bill doesn't just have 1 check, it has 3. Here's every way you get money
The massive relief package includes three ways you and your family could receive direct payments from the government. Here's every way you benefit from the new
With the $1.9 trillion stimulus bill now officially law, the IRS is about to send the first wave of the new stimulus payments. "People can start seeing direct deposits hit their bank accounts as early as this weekend," Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, said on Thursday. But that new $1,400 check (calculate your total) is just one of three payments that the COVID-19 relief bill authorizes that could prop up individuals and families struggling through the pandemic. The $1,400 direct payment comes with strict income limits that change the eligibility rules from the first and second checks and will exclude millions of higher earners. The next two payouts include renewed weekly $300 federal payments to unemployed workers that will extend into the summer and an expanded child tax credit that will send periodic payments to lower-income families. Another program for direct payment -- a proposed federal minimum wage increase -- didn't make the just-approved legislation, but proponents vow to reintroduce the wage hiker at a later date. The law also boosts funding for COVID-19 vaccine distribution. Here's what you need to know about the new law. This story was recently updated. Check 1: What's in the $1,400 stimulus payment? The $1,400 stimulus check will start going out to tens of millions of Americans this weekend -- here's how to track it. Under new eligibility rules, some who qualified for the first two payments may not make the cut for the third. A hard ceiling on income, designed to exclude higher earners from getting a check, will come with a rule change regarding the use of dependents in the stimulus check formula. Check out our stimulus payment calculator to see how the new Senate income cap will affect you. The new legislation gives the IRS a deadline of Dec. 31 to finish sending the stimulus checks. With this third round of payments, adult dependents as well as children and families with mixed-status citizenship are included. Here are all the ways a third check could bring you more money. Here's how tax season could affect your payment. And here's how the third check compares with the first two payments approved in 2020.
Check 3: Expanded child tax credit for 2021 worth more than stimulus checks
The new law
expands the child tax credit that currently allows families to claim up to a $2,000 credit for children under 17 years of age. The plan extends the benefit to lower-income families who otherwise
wouldn't receive the credit. Families can claim up to $3,600 per year for a child under 6 and up to $3,000 per year for those between the ages of 6 and 17.
The plan also removes a provision that you have to make $2,500 a year to receive the credit and makes the credits fully refundable. In addition, it will expand tax credits for one year to help cover the cost of childcare. Families could get back as a tax credit as much as half their spending on childcare for children under age 13, up to $4,000 for a single child and $8,000 for two or more children. Here are even more details about
the child tax credit.
The third stimulus check is just one of three ways you and your family could get direct payments from the government over the next year. Here's every way you benefit.
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