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- The new COVID-19 stimulus package will bring extra cash to many Americans.
- Americans will start seeing the third round of stimulus checks worth $1,400 as soon as this weekend.
- Expanded child tax credits will give much-needed cash to families throughout 2021 and at tax time.
- Read more from Personal Finance Insider »
The latest COVID-19 stimulus package was signed into law on March 11 by President Joe Biden.
The bill, called the American Rescue Plan, has several parts that aim to give money directly to Americans who are struggling financially as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, which reaches its one-year mark this month. Aid for housing costs and food expenses, small businesses, and schools was included in the legislation.
Three parts of the stimulus package are expected to put cash directly into many American families’ bank accounts.
$1,400 stimulus checks are expected soon
A third round of stimulus checks is one of the provisions in the American Rescue Act. According to a statement by White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki on Thursday, payments could start hitting bank accounts as soon as this weekend.
The stimulus checks will provide $1,400 for individuals, and $2,800 for married couples who file taxes jointly.
Eligibility for the full amount will be based on a person’s latest tax return, either from 2019 or 2020 if already filed. Full stimulus checks will be available to single tax filers earning an adjusted gross income of $75,000 or less, $112,500 or less for head-of-household filers, and $150,000 for married joint filers. Families will receive $1,400 per dependent.
The upper income limits for the third stimulus check are lower than previous checks. This time around, payments will phase out at $80,000 for individuals, $120,000 for head-of-household filers, and $160,000 for married joint filers.
Weekly $300 additional unemployment benefits extended until September
People who are unemployed due to the pandemic will continue to receive an extra $300 per week on top of state benefits.
Additional unemployment insurance benefits have been added to state checks since the beginning of the pandemic. In December, legislators approved $300 per week in federal unemployment benefits for 11 weeks. Under the American Rescue Plan, the same $300 weekly payment will continue through September 6.
A child tax credit change will provide $250 or $300 per month, per child
Families with children under age 18 will see a big change in child tax credits this year, with some of the benefits coming periodically in the latter half of the year.
According to the new law, families will receive an annual total of $3,600 per child under age 6, and $3,000 per child between ages 6 and 18. The provisions allow the IRS to send out the money in $250 or $300 installments starting in July 2021, with half of the credit claimed at tax time.
Like stimulus checks, the full amount is limited to single tax filers earning $75,000 or less, married couples earning $150,000 per year or less, and heads of household earning $112,500 per year or less.
This would be a greater amount – and work slightly differently – than the current $2,000 per child tax credit, available to families with children under age 17. The changes would also allow low-income families to receive the full credit; only $1,400 is currently available when the credit would exceed taxes owed.
As written, the tax credit will only apply in 2021. However, Senate Democrats are fighting to make it permanent, Insider’s Joseph Zeballos-Roig reports.
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