Stimulus

STIMULUS CHECKS - ECONOMIC IMPACT PAYMENTS

As part of Covid-relief from the federal government, there are three rounds of Emergency Impact Payments (EIP) aka Stimulus Checks.

STIMULUS CHECK #3

STIMULUS CHECK #2

  • $600 per eligible adult and $600 per qualified child under 17.
  • You can check the status of your stimulus payment, in your IRS account.
  • For more details, including the income rules, see here for a detailed explanation about EIP #2.

STIMULUS CHECK #1

$1,200 per eligible adult and $500 per qualified child under 17.

1) You are a U.S. citizen, permanent resident or qualifying resident alien.
AND
2)
You are not claimed as a dependent on someone else’s tax return.
AND
3)
Your annual income is not over a certain amount. See below.

Note: You are eligible to get the payment even if you live outside the USA.

  1. All eligibility is based on your most recently filed tax return. That’s either 2018 or 2019. 

  2. Income amounts are based on your AGI (Adjusted Gross Income). Where do you find your AGI? Check your tax return. See screenshots below for where to find your AGI on 2018 and 2019 1040.

  3. The payment is $1200 per adult and $500 per child 16 and under. The child must be claimed as a dependent on the tax return to be eligible for the $500. For example, a couple with three children would get $3,900. $1,200 x 2 (for the two adults) and $500 x 3 (for the three children).

  4. You only receive the full amount If the AGI on your return $75,000 or under for a single filer, $150,000 if you are a “married filing joint” return, and $112,500 if you filed a “Head of Household” return.

  5. If you earned more “AGI” than shown in #4, your stimulus payment starts phasing out at a rate of 5% ($0.05 for ever $1 earned above your amount or $1,200 for every $24,000). See below for some sample scenarios.

  6. You will only get the $500 per child for children listed on your last filed tax return. So, if you last filed in 2018 and your child was born in 2018, then you will get $500 for the child. If, however, your child was born in 2019, then you will hopefully get the additional $500 once you file your 2019 taxes. If your child was born in 2020, then you will hopefully get the $500 when you file your 2020 taxes.

  7. You only get $500 for children 16 and under. You won’t get $500 for any dependent on your return that is 17 or over. Also, those who are dependents on your return are not eligible for the stimulus payments. If they are not claimed as a dependent on the following year’s tax return (2019 or 2020) then they will hopefully get their own $1,200 when they file their own taxes.

AGI on 2018 form 1040
AGI on 2019 form 1040

Did you get your stimulus payment? Great! Didn’t get it? Some possible answers:

  1. In order to get your stimulus payment, you need to have filed 2018 or 2019 taxes (that’s how the government knows if you are income eligible).

    • If you didn’t file yet, file either 2018 or 2019 and become eligible. Based on your income in 2018 and 2019, you can decide if you should file 2018 and 2019 or just 2018.

    • If you won’t file 2018 or 2019, but will file 2020, your eligibility will be based on your 2020 return.

    • Don’t need to file? You can STILL get the stimulus payment. Click HERE to see if you don’t need to file a return. If you don’t need to file a return, then click HERE to request your stimulus payment without filing a return.

  2. Filed taxes and still nothing? Check the status of your payment in your IRS account.

  3. If you didn’t provide bank account details for direct deposit in 2018 or 2019, then you should receive a check in the mail.

  1. Your eligibility is based on your most recently filed tax return. Some people benefited by not yet filing their 2019 taxes. For example, If you filed 2018 and not 2019 and you earned too much too be eligible in 2019, but you are still eligible based on your 2018 taxes, then you will get the stimulus payment because 2018 is the most recently filed tax year that they have on file.

  2. The requirement that a child be under 17 in order to qualify for the $500 is also based on the filed tax year.

    • If your child turned 17 during 2019, then if you filed last for 2018 then you should receive $500 for that child. However, if you already filed for 2019, then you will not get the $500 for that child.

    • If you only filed for 2018 and not 2019 and therefore got the $500 for said child, you will not need to pay that money back after you file for 2019.

  3. It looks like the stimulus payment was set up that you will get more if become more eligible in 2019 return vs 2018 return and so too if you become more eligible in 2020 vs 2019. However if you become “less eligible” then you don’t need to pay anything back.

  4. Sample Scenarios of stimulus being phased out based on income:

    • Married Filing Joint with no dependents: AGI of more than $198,000 = $0 stimulus payment (As $198k is $48k more than $150k and 5% of $48k is $2,400 – the stimulus payment the couple was meant to get).

    • Married Filing Joint with two dependents: AGI of more than $218,000 = $0 stimulus payment (As $218k is $68k more than $150k and 5% of $68k is $32,400 – the stimulus payment the couple was meant to get).

  5. Being that the direct deposit bank details comes from your most recently filed taxes, some (read: millions) of people had a problem: If you filed taxes using tax prep software, some companies offer that instead of paying upfront, they’ll deduct the cost of their services from your expected refund. So… when they filed, they made a dummy bank account, got the refund deposit, sent you the rest of the money and closed the account. When the IRS tried sending you a direct deposit now, there was no account there to send the money to. You should be getting a check in the mail.

Related Articles

Covid-Relief and Your 2020 Tax Return

With people getting ready to file their 2020 taxes, here are some changes to taxes this year based on the Covid Relief bill.  In addition, see how the most common government Covid-Relief programs for individuals are taxed. 

Read More »
Scroll to Top