Just because the final stimulus checks may have already gone out as part of the third round of COVID-related payment disbursements at the national level, that doesn’t mean some people won’t still be getting new benefits in the form of a check — which you could argue is a new stimulus check, of sorts — in the near future.
We noted in a post yesterday, for example, that stemming from the same $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief law that made the recent round of $1,400 stimulus checks possible is an imminent monthly stimulus check for families with children. It represents an expansion of the federal child tax credit that will pay working families as much as $3,600 over the course of a year. And on the state level, meanwhile, millions of California residents are about to get a special stimulus check of their own.
This is a result of the $9.6 billion relief package we told you about back in February that was signed into law by California Gov. Gavin Newsom — a legislative package that would, among other things, send out $600 direct payments to lower-income Californians as well as those who were “unfairly excluded from previous federal stimulus payments.”
As the governor’s website explains, that relief package is funding an estimated 5.7 million stimulus checks for residents of California. And in addition to sending one-time $600 payments to households receiving the California Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) for 2020, taxpayers with Individual Tax Identification Numbers (ITINs) who didn’t receive $1,200 stimulus checks last spring or $600 federal payments earlier this year will also get $600 payments from the state. Furthermore, any ITIN taxpayers who also qualify for the California EITC will receive a total of $1,200.
Previously, we noted Newsom’s comment that Californians would receive their payments shortly after filing their 2020 tax returns. Local news reports show that some people in the state have already started receiving the checks, while it could be a few more weeks before other Californians receive them.
The timing of who receives one of these new stimulus checks in California will depend on which of a few different recipient classifications that you fall in. This local news report has a good run-down of the differences — the California Earned Income Tax Credit, for example, is available to tax filers who earn less than $30,000 a year. You claim it by filing a 2020 tax return, and if you filed that tax return between January 1 and March 1 of this year, you can expect your new California stimulus payment starting after April 15.
Be aware that paper checks could take up to three weeks to arrive in your mailbox. Anyone with questions about these checks as part of California’s “Golden State Stimulus” program is recommended to call 800-852-5711 or for those outside the US, 916-845-6500. You can also communicate with a representative online.
