A third stimulus check is part of the $1.9 trillion stimulus bill, officially called the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. It has now been approved by the Senate and is awaiting final approval by the house and President Biden.
You may be wondering about the timeline of the third stimulus check, or how to use a calculator to find your stimulus check amount, since the income limits have already changed.
The latest third stimulus check update is that the check amount will be $1,400, which, when coupled with the previous $600 check from December, would get $2,000 to all eligible Americans.
The third stimulus check eligibility guidelines are more generous to dependents than they were for the first and second checks, but less generous in terms of income limits.
People who make up to $75,000 a year, according to their most recent tax returns, will still qualify for the entire payment. Couples filing jointly will get the full payment if they have a joint total income of $150,000 or less.
Above that limit, the amount of money distributed decreases rapidly, and individuals who earn more than $80,000 per year or $160,000 per year as joint filers will get nothing. (We have more information about how to calculate how much you’ll get below.)
Dependent children up to age 23, as well as elderly parents dependent upon adult children, may also qualify for the full $1,400, a big change from the previous two bills.
Here’s everything else we know about the proposed third stimulus check, including new details on where it stands.
Third stimulus check update today (March 7)
As of Sunday, March 7, the Senate has passed the $1.9 trillion COVID relief plan, as reported by CNN. President Biden says that Americans will start receiving stimulus checks this month, but a couple of things need to happen first.
The House will vote Tuesday on the bill to approve changes made in the Senate, After that the bill will go to Biden for his signature to be signed into law.
Unemployment benefit supplements reduced to $300
Democratic leaders are aiming to send the entire stimulus package to Biden’s desk before March 14, when the current round of federal unemployment-benefit supplements will expire.
Unemployment benefits are normally paid by states, but the federal government is helping out the states during the pandemic. The supplements that run through March 14 are $300 per week.
Whether the American Rescue Plan Act meets that deadline depends on how smoothly the bill sails through the Senate and then through the House again.
The House passed the earlier version of the bill 219-212, with all Republicans and two Democratic moderates voting against the bill. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California) doesn’t have much room to spare for the bill’s repassage.
Once Biden signs the bill, the IRS can begin making direct deposits within a couple of business days and begin mailing out checks a few days later. The process will be more rapid than for the first stimulus checks from nearly a year ago because the framework is already in place.
Third stimulus check amount: How much is the third stimulus check?
The third stimulus check is worth $1,400 for Americans who make $75,000 or less per year. When President Joe Biden proposed the third round of payments, he said they’ll supplement the $600 payments that began going out late last year.
Stimulus check eligibility: Who will get the 3rd stimulus check?
If you were eligible for the full amount of the first and second stimulus checks, you will likely also be eligible for the third stimulus check, but not everyone who got smaller checks in the first two rounds will receive money this time.
In the first two stimulus bills, people who earned $75,000 or less per year according to their most recent tax returns qualified for the entire stimulus check. Joint filers who earned up to $150,000 per year were also eligible for the entire amount.
People who earned more than those amounts received a prorated amount that was reduced by $5 for every $100 of income above the threshold. This time around, the amount will be reduced by $28 for every $100 of income above the threshold.
If you made between $75,000 and $80,000 on your last tax return, multiply every dollar above $75,000 by 0.28. Take the resulting number and subtract it from $1,400. The result will be the size of your stimulus check.
So if you make $77,000, the amount to multiply by 0.28 would be $2,000. That comes to $560. Subtract that from $1,400 and you get $840. We have a link to a stimulus-check calculator.
Because the payment amounts were different between the first two bills, the income cutoff to get any money at all was $99,000 for single filers for the first check, but only $87,000 in the second check. The cutoffs were double those amounts for joint filers.
In the third bill, the cutoff will be $80,000 per year for single filers and $160,000 per year for joint filers.
The American Rescue Plan Act, in its current form, also stipulates that dependents up to age 23, as well as senior parents living with adult children, will qualify families for additional $1,400 payments.
That means that most Americans who are dependents of someone who earns up to $75,000 would be eligible for the third stimulus check.
Third stimulus check calculator: See how much you’re eligible for
The third stimulus check calculator could be useful to know how much you money you’ll get as you look into your next few months of personal finances. It’s also useful to read up on the best ways to spend your stimulus check if you don’t already have a plan for your payment.
Forbes made a third stimulus check calculator that can help you figure out your third stimulus check amount.
How it works: Go to https://www.forbes.com/advisor/personal-finance/third-stimulus-check-calculator/. Complete the short questionnaire. Enter how you filed your taxes (single/joint), how many children you have and your adjusted gross income (AGI) for 2019.
Third stimulus check dependents: How much will children get?
Under President Biden’s current plan, more dependents will be eligible for stimulus checks than in previous relief legislation. Dependents age 23 or younger and elderly parents living with their adult children all qualify.
If you meet the complete stimulus check income limit requirements and claim a dependent, you’ll receive an additional $1,400. A family of four could get $5,600, for example.