Nearly 850,000 payments, with a total value of nearly $1.6 billion, went to eligible individuals for whom the IRS previously did not have information to issue stimulus payments but who recently filed a tax return. Another 72,000 payments went to Social Security beneficiaries who didn’t file a 2020 or 2019 tax return and didn’t use the Non-Filers Tool last year.
This batch also sent more than 700,000 supplemental payments to people whose stimulus check was based on their 2019 returns but are eligible for a higher payment based on their 2020 return.
April 21
The Treasury, via the IRS, sent nearly 2 million payments, starting April 16, with a payment date of April 21. This set of payments totaled about $3.4 billion.
About 600,000 payments went to Social Security and SSI recipients, including those with foreign addresses. Another 700,000 went to people for whom the IRS did not previously have information for sending stimulus payments, but who recently filed a tax return.
The remainder were “plus up” payments to people whose previous stimulus checks were based on their 2019 tax return. These people received additional stimulus money based on their 2020 return.
April 28
The IRS sentnearly 2 million payments with a value of more than $4.3 billion, beginning April 23, with a pay date of April 28. This eleventh batch of payments contains about 1.1 million direct deposit payments (with a total value of $2.5 billion) and about 850,000 paper check payments (with a total value of more than $1.8 billion).
As with the previous week, the bulk of the payments went to people who had not been registered with the IRS previously. The rest were “plus up” payments to those who had received stimulus checks based on their 2019 tax return.
May 5
The IRS sent more than 1.1 million payments worth more than $2 billion beginning April 30, with a pay date of May 5. More than 585,000 payments went to individuals for whom the IRS had not had information previously. The rest were “plus-up” payments to those who had received stimulus checks based on their 2019 tax return. About 600,000 of this batch of payments were via direct deposit; the rest were by paper checks.
May 12
The IRS delivered nearly 1 million payments, with a pay date of May 12. The EIPs were worth a total $388 million. About half those payments went to individuals for whom the IRS didn’t have previous information. The rest were “plus-up” payments to those whose payments were based on their 2019 tax return, and who then filed a 2020 return.
May 26
The IRS delivered more than 1.8 million payments, worth about $3.5 billion, in this wave of EIPs. The payments went to about 900,000 eligible individuals for whom the IRS did not have previous information. It also included “plus up” payments to people whose earlier EIPs were based on their 2019 returns, and who subsequently filed a 2020 return.
Haven’t received your third stimulus payment yet?
The IRS will continue to send checks via the Treasury. The majority who have received a first or second payment don’t need to do anything more to get the third payment, which often will be sent out automatically. Following the model of the second round of checks, payments should be issued automatically to people who:
- Filed 2019 or 2020 federal tax returns. The IRS will use the taxpayer’s latest processed return.
- Registered for the first round of stimulus payments through the non-filer portal on IRS.gov by Nov. 21, 2020.
- Receive Social Security (both retirement and disability), Supplemental Security Income (SSI), or Railroad Retirement Board or Veterans Affairs (VA) benefits.
Those receiving Social Security and other federal benefits will generally receive this third payment the same way as their regular benefits.
The IRSGet My Payment Toolallows you to provide information to the agency for a stimulus check and to track payment status.
If you got your payment based on your 2019 return and find that you’re entitled to more based on your 2020 return, the IRS will compute the additional amount owed to you.
Recap of first and second rounds of stimulus payments
Most Americans have received their initial $1,200 stimulus checks, or economic impact payments (EIPs), as the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) calls them. The first round of stimulus money, which was approved under the $2.2 trillion CARES Act in March 2020, also included $500 payments for eligible dependent children under age 17. Payments were sent via direct deposit, paper check and prepaid debit card.
Congress included a second round of stimulus checks in a $900 billion coronavirus relief bill in December 2020 that offered most Americans payments of up to $600 for themselves and their dependent children under age 17. It was a way to put more money directly in the pockets of families still struggling to manage the economic fallout of the pandemic. By law the IRS had until January 15, 2021, to issue the bulk of the second-round stimulus checks.
If you didn’t get the first two rounds of payments, or thought you didn’t get as much as you deserved, you can collect your missing stimulus money by filing a 2020 tax return and claiming the Recovery Rebate Credit.
John Waggoner covers all things financial for AARP, from budgeting and taxes to retirement planning and Social Security. Previously he was a reporter for Kiplinger's Personal Finance and USA Today and has written books on investing and the 2008 financial crisis. Waggoner's USA Today investing column ran in dozens of newspapers for 25 years.
