WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Americans will see the first direct deposits of President Joe Biden’s $ 1.9 billion COVID-19 relief package over the weekend in their bank accounts, Treasury and Internal Revenue Service officials said Friday.
Officials said a first tranche of $ 1,400 stimulus payments was processed Friday, with additional large amounts of payments to be sent via direct deposits or by mail as checks or debit cards in the coming weeks.
That means a family of four earning up to $ 150,000 will receive $ 5,600. Unlike the first two payments, which are limited to children under 17, this round of checks will also go to all dependent dependents, including university students, adults with disabilities, parents and grandparents, officials said.
They stressed that taxpayers need no action to receive the payments, which will be based on tax returns from 2019 or 2020, depending on what information is the latest, or the data provided to non-submitters by the IRS last year .
The IRS will also automatically send payments to those who would not normally file tax returns, but in 2020 received social and rail retirement benefits, supplementary security income or veteran benefits.
“The goal is to get it out as quickly as possible,” said one of the officials.
As of Monday, taxpayers can join the Get My Payment tool on the IRS website to check the status of these payments.
Officials have asked people to submit their tax returns electronically to facilitate the process, noting that they may also be eligible for other relief, including child tax credits.
The Biden administration said stimulus payments and other measures would boost economic growth and help Americans affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, which continues to claim 1,400 lives in the United States.
Nearly 160 million U.S. households will receive approximately $ 400 billion in direct payments of $ 1,400 per person, helping individuals earning up to $ 75,000 annually and couples up to $ 150,000. Those who earn more, but less than $ 80,000 per individual or $ 160,000 per couple, receive fewer amounts.
Officials said they were coordinating with the Social Security Administration, other government agencies and financial institutions to avoid problems seen during the last round of stimulus payments, when checks were issued to thousands of people who had died.
“We have a number of controls in place to make sure we look at how the payments are going,” one official said.
Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Edited by David Gregorio