IRS announces new batch of COVID-19 payments

The IRS announced its dispersal of a third batch of payments from the latest COVID-19 relief package with billions of dollars in direct money going to millions of Americans. 

The agency, along with the Treasury Department and the Bureau of Fiscal Service, said in a release that the new batch will provide more than $10 billion in more than 4 million payments, including direct deposit and paper check payments.

The third assortment of payments will bring the total distributed to more than $335 billion in more than 130 million payments. 

This payment cluster began processing last Friday with the official payment date being Wednesday, but the agencies noted some people received their payments earlier as “provisional or pending deposits.”

The first two batches of payments began processing on March 12 and March 19 mostly to taxpayers who filed 2019 or 2020 returns and were eligible. 

The new group of payments will include checks and deposits for those who received their payment based on 2019 tax returns but qualify for more money under their 2020 return. Individuals would be eligible for more money if, for example, their income decreased within the required threshold or they had a new child last year. 

The payments will also go to those who the IRS did not originally have information on but have since filed their 2020 tax return and were found to qualify. 

The IRS announced that payments for those who qualify for more money or who the IRS did not initially have information for will continue on a weekly basis as tax returns are processed. 

This Friday, the agency said Social Security and other federal beneficiaries who didn’t file tax returns or use the IRS’s Non-Filers tool last year will start receiving payments. Most of these payments should be received by next Wednesday.

The American Rescue Plan signed by President Biden last month allocates up to $1,400 in direct payments for individuals making up to $75,000 and up to $2,800 for married couples, plus $1,400 for each dependent, if the couple is making up to $150,000.