On Thursday afternoon, President Joe Biden signed the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 into law. Not only is the relief package the first major legislative victory of Biden’s presidency, but it also provides vital aid to those who have suffered the most throughout the pandemic. Schools, businesses, cities, and states will all receive billions of dollars to speed up their recovery, and millions of Americans will get $1,400 stimulus checks.
President Biden was planning to sign the bill on Friday, but by acting a day earlier, he made it possible for the IRS to start sending out stimulus checks even more quickly than anticipated. In fact, White House press secretary Jen Psaki announced during a press briefing on Thursday that direct deposits should begin to hit bank accounts as soon as this weekend. If you want to track your payment, you can do so on what should be a very familiar website.
If you were eligible for either of the previous two stimulus checks, chances are that you visited the Internal Revenue Service’s Get My Payment tool at least once. When I visited the website Friday morning, the tool was available, but at the time of writing, it’s temporarily offline. In all likelihood, people will begin receiving their payments within the next 24 hours, but the website says to “check back in a few days for an update on your 2021 Economic Impact Payment.” At this rate, the tool might actually come back online after you receive your $1,400 direct deposit.
The good news is that if the IRS has your bank account information, you most likely won’t need a website to tell you when your payment will arrive. After President Trump signed the previous coronavirus relief bill, many people saw the money hit their accounts within the week, and although tax season might slow the process down a touch, it’s possible that millions of Americans will be $1,400 richer before the end of next week.
If you haven’t filed your taxes or the IRS doesn’t have your information for whatever reason, you’re going to have to wait to receive a physical check or debit card in the mail. That will obviously take longer than receiving an electronic deposit, but Biden took at least one step that might help to speed up the process.
As for eligibility, not everyone who was expecting a third stimulus check is going to receive it. Individuals who earn $75,000 or less will receive the full $1,400, but the payments will now phase out entirely for anyone earning $80,000 or more. Similarly, married couples earning $150,000 or less will get the full amount, but those that earn $160,000 or more will not be eligible for the payments. This is one of the changes the Senate made to the bill.
