How much should my third stimulus check be

A third round of stimulus checks, part of the Biden administration’s “American Rescue Plan,” has been signed into law.

Table of Contents Show

What’s different this time
How Is My Third Stimulus Check Calculated?
Which Tax Year Will Be Used to Determine Eligibility?
How Much Will Adult Dependents Get?
When Will My Third Stimulus Check Arrive?
Tips for Surviving the Recession

Use the calculator below to see how large a check you’ll receive. If you’ve already filed your 2020 taxes, the check will most likely be based on that income. If you haven’t, it will be based on your 2019 taxes.

The $1.9 trillion bill looks a little different from the legislation originally approved by the House. Provisions for increasing the minimum wage to $15 were struck down by the Senate parliamentarian, and the income eligibility for stimulus payments was narrowed.

[What’s in the Senate’s $1.9 trillion covid bill: Checks, unemployment insurance and more]

Americans with income below a certain threshold — $75,000 for individuals, $112,500 for heads of household and $150,000 for couples filing jointly — will each receive $1,400 per person as a direct deposit or mailed check. Households will receive an additional $1,400 for each dependent claimed on their most recent tax filings.

What’s different this time

At $1,400 per individual, this will be the largest stimulus check yet for most Americans. The first round paid $1,200, and the second paid $600. Before the Georgia Senate runoff, Biden pushed for a $2,000 stimulus payment. His administration now considers the latest bill and the December checks to be part of the same round of stimulus, for a total of $2,000.

[Calculate how much you would get from the expanded child tax credit]

As with the last two payments, some Americans will get a partial check if their income is above the threshold. However, these amounts will phase out much faster than in the past two coronavirus relief bills. That means that some Americans who received money in the first two rounds of checks won’t get anything this time.

Stimulus check phaseout for single tax filers

[Biden stimulus showers money on Americans, sharply cutting poverty in defining move of presidency]

The narrowed eligibility was a concession from Biden to moderate Democrats, whose votes were needed for passage of the bill in a closely divided Senate.

Dependents will get the same amount as adults. The first round gave just $500 per child dependent vs. $1,200 for adults, while the second round gave $600 checks to both. Dependents that are 17 or older are also included in this round of stimulus.

In addition to the stimulus checks, the massive economic package extends unemployment benefits into September, increases the child tax credit, and reserves billions for state and local aid, coronavirus testing and vaccinations, and other provisions such as rental aid and food assistance.

correction

A previous version of this page miscalculated how stimulus checks for dependents would phase out.

About this story

The calculator assumes a phaseout of 5 percent of every dollar over the “full stimulus” limit. All figures are rounded to the nearest dollar. Income requirements for the bill are measured based on adjusted gross income. Additional analysis from Kyle Pomerleau at the American Enterprise Institute.

Originally published for the first stimulus bill, on March 26, 2020, and then updated for the second and third.

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President Joe Biden signed the American Rescue Plan into law on March 11. The plan includes a third stimulus check that pays up to $1,400 for individuals and $2,800 for couples. Single taxpayers earning more than $80,000 and joint taxpayers making over $160,000 will not get a stimulus payment. Heads of household with an income above $120,000 will also be excluded. Use the third stimulus check calculator below to figure out how much you will get:

How Is My Third Stimulus Check Calculated?

The amount of your payment depends entirely on your adjusted gross income (AGI). Congress has set income limits to determine eligibility. Below we break down those requirements by tax filing status and AGI range:

Single tax filers making less than $75,000 will get $1,400. Payments will decrease for AGIs over $75,000 until getting completely phased out at $80,000.
Joint tax filers earning under $150,000 will get $2,800. Payments will decrease for joint AGIs over $150,000 until getting completely phased out at $160,000.
Heads of household with an AGI under $112,500 get $1,400. Payments will decrease for AGIs over $112,500 until getting completely phased out at $120,000.

Because of the lower income limits, wealthier earners who qualified for the first and second rounds of stimulus checks may be completely excluded from getting a third stimulus payment.

Which Tax Year Will Be Used to Determine Eligibility?

The IRS will use either your 2019 tax return (which was due on July 15, 2020) or your 2020 tax return (due May 17, 2021).

If your income has decreased during the pandemic, you could benefit from filing your 2020 taxes earlier, especially if you now qualify within the new AGI limits. But if you made more money and your income puts you above the requirements, you may want to delay filing and use your lower 2019 tax return.

Note that if you earned over the third check stimulus income limit for your 2020 tax year, and you use your 2019 tax year to claim the stimulus payment, the IRS will not mandate you to pay it back.

You should also keep in mind that the IRS will not treat your stimulus check as an advance or a federal government loan either. This means that it won’t be deducted from your tax refund and you don’t have to pay it back. And the agency won’t tax your payment, so you will not have to report it as part of your yearly taxable income.

If you do not usually have to file a tax return, the IRS has created an online tool that allows you to enter your personal and bank account information to get your stimulus payment.

Consider saving or investing the money in your stimulus check. Speak with a financial advisor today.

How Much Will Adult Dependents Get?

Adult dependents qualify under the American Rescue Plan for a third stimulus check. This means that college students, elderly relatives and disabled adults can get a maximum payments of $1,400 each, depending on the AGI of the taxpayer who claims them.

The text for the new legislation expanded the meaning of the term “dependent” to include both qualifying children and adults. For reference, the first and second stimulus checks limited additional payments to dependents under the age of 17.

So now, if you file your joint taxes with one child under 17, one college student over 17 and one elderly relative as dependents, you could get a maximum third stimulus payment of $7,000 ($2,800 for both joint filers with an AGI under $150,000, and $1,400 for each dependent).

For a comparison with the second stimulus check, you would only qualify for $1,800 as a joint filer with the same number of dependents and ages ($1,200 for both joint filers with an AGI under $150,000 and $600 for one qualifying dependent younger than 17). Children or adult dependents over the age limit could not get the additional payment, and your college student and elderly dependents could not qualify for a stimulus check of their own either.

When Will My Third Stimulus Check Arrive?

The Treasury Department already started delivering the third round of $1,400 stimulus payments on the weekend of March 13-14. But many taxpayers will not receive payment from their bank until March 17, which is the effective date when banks get the money from the government.

The IRS will make third stimulus payments via direct deposit first. Those who have their bank account on file with the IRS based on a tax return from 2020 of 2019 will get payments earlier. Paper checks and prepaid debit cards will be mailed after.

For reference, the direct deposit payments for the second stimulus check started arriving as early as December 29, two days after President Donald Trump signed the $900 billion economic relief and government funding bill. And paper checks were mailed out on December 30.

Anyone who receives Social Security retirement benefits, Social Security survivor benefits, Social Security disability benefits, Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Railroad Retirement benefits or VA benefits and has their bank account on-file with the IRS will also get their check via direct deposit.

Note that the IRS has said that there could be processing delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As many as eight million eligible recipients may have not received their first or second stimulus checks as of January 2021. And President Biden signed an executive order on January 22, asking the Treasury Department to deliver direct payments to all of those qualifying recipients.

Within 15 days of your check’s disbursement, you will get a notification in the mail providing your method of payment and amount, along with a phone number to call if you didn’t get your payment. Take a look at our guide on what to do if you still haven’t received your check.

Tips for Surviving the Recession

If you want to build a financial plan that can get you through a possible recession, get some professional help. Financial advisors specialize in these situations, as they typically have expertise in retirement planning, investing and more. SmartAsset’s free tool can pair you with advisors in your area based on your needs. Get started now.
As long as you’re receiving a paycheck, don’t be afraid to continue contributing to your retirement account. It may be tempting to stop, but investing when the market is low will help balance out past years when the market was high.
Americans have access to Unemployment Compensation (UC), the Extended Benefit (EB) program, the Families First Act and various other unemployment insurance (UI) provisions. As part of the coronavirus stimulus package for unemployed Americans, workers who lose their jobs because of coronavirus can receive unemployment for 13 weeks longer than usual. Also, the government has expanded the types of workers who are eligible to include independent contractors, gig workers, freelancers and people who have been furloughed.

Arturo Conde, CEPF® Arturo Conde is an editor at SmartAsset and a bilingual freelance journalist. He writes for NBC News and WhoWhatWhy. His articles have been published in Fusion, Univision, City Limits and the NACLA Report on the Americas.