- The Trump administration’s coronavirus stimulus checks are expected to start being distributed to Americans as soon as this week, starting in a matter of days, now that Congress has passed its massive coronavirus stimulus relief bill.
- Use the tables below to estimate how much you’re eligible for, and thus how big your coronavirus stimulus check will be.
- Visit BGR’s homepage for more stories.
Here’s the good news for everyone who’s wondering how much money they’re set to get from the federal government once their stimulus check arrives, now that Congress has passed its massive coronavirus relief bill and the IRS is working to get those checks sent out ASAP. The first checks look to start being distributed next week, in the form of direct deposits into checking accounts.
The government is prioritizing the first wave of checks to go to people with lower incomes, as well as Social Security recipients. The disbursements will come in waves after that, with people who don’t have direct deposit information on file with the IRS set to be at the back of the line — those people will be waiting on paper checks in the mail, which will, of course, take longer. But now, for the good news: You don’t have to wait that long to learn how big your check will be.
New York-based personal finance technology company SmartAsset has prepared a couple of tables showing how much coronavirus stimulus money Americans can expect to receive, at least in this first wave (since Congress is also talking about the possibility of additional relief bills). Basically, if you fall under certain income thresholds, individuals can expect to receive $1,200, while married couples will get $2,400 — and parents will also get an extra $500 for each child under the age of 18.
Here’s a breakdown of those amounts, including the income thresholds you have to fall under in order to get those amounts, per SmartAsset:
Now, what about if you make more than those income levels? The checks decrease in increments that correspond to tiers above those income levels, and you can use this table to estimate where you’ll fall if this applies to you:
Some other key facts to know about the forthcoming stimulus payments:
According to the IRS, about 80% of Americans are eligible to receive a payment. That agency, by the way, is the one responsible for distributing the cash, so if the IRS already has your direct deposit details, you’re good to go. If they don’t, they’ll send the payment to the address they have on file for you, and paper checks are expected to start being sent out towards the end of this month, on or around April 24. If you want, you can head to IRS.gov and click “Non-Filers: Enter Payment Info Here” to give the agency your banking details.
