Which Tax Return Is Used For My Third Stimulus Check
The IRS uses 2019 or 2020 tax returns to determine eligibility for your third stimulus check. You should note that if your income fell in the 2020 tax year, filing your tax return earlier could help you qualify for a bigger third stimulus check. The new stimulus plan targets lower income ranges to exclude higher-earning taxpayers from getting a payment.
As we pointed out before, individuals making under $75,000 get the maximum stimulus payment of $1,400 . But payments are capped at $80,000 for single filers and $160,000 for couples. So filing at the beginning of the tax season with a lower income may help you qualify for a bigger check. But, if your income went up in tax year 2020, then you may want to delay filing so that eligibility is determined by your lower 2019 income.
You might also want to file early if the size of your family increased in 2020. The new stimulus plan includes a child tax credit that pays up to $3,600 for each qualifying child under 6 years old, and $3,000 for every child between ages 6 and 17. This means that if you became a parent during the tax year, you could get an additional payment by claiming your child as a dependent earlier.
SmartAssets child tax credit calculator will help you figure out how much you could get for each child.
You can use SmartAssets tax return calculator to figure out your 2021 tax refund or tax bill.
Second Round Of Direct Payments: December 2020
The second round of aid, a $900 billion package which was part of the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2021 was signed off by Trump on 27 December 2020. It provided a one-off check of up to $600, but this time, households were also able to claim an additional $600 for child dependents aged 16 or under. Those who earned under $75,000 in the 2019 tax year received the full stimulus check, while a steadily smaller figure was given to those on a higher annual income, up to a maximum phase-out limit of $87,000. The first payments, through direct deposit and paper checks with some later payments made by EIP 2 Cards, were issued between 29 December 2020 and 15 January 2021.
Those who didnt receive a stimulus payment either through the CARES Act or the December Covid-19 Relief bill were able to claim for it retroactively when they filed their federal tax returns for 2020 through the IRS Recovery Rebate Credit.
Max Out Your Hsa Contributions
If you have a high-deductible health plan âthat means an annual deductible of at least $1,400 for an individual or $2,800 for a familyâyouâre generally eligible for a health savings account.
Like its tax-advantaged retirement brethren, the traditional IRA, an HSA can let you squirrel tax-deductible money for the previous year up until April 15th of the following year. Each dollar you contribute to an HSA reduces your AGI.
Whatâs nice about last-minute HSA contributions is that there are no income caps, meaning you can sneak in an eleventh-hour deduction no matter how much you earn. There are total contribution limits, however. For 2020, HSA contributions are limited to $3,550 for individuals and $7,100 for families. If you turned 55 or older in 2020, you can sock away another $1,000 on top of each of those limits.
There are a couple of caveats. First, if your employer made any contributions to your HSA, the total amount you can contribute is reduced by that amount.
Next, due to a weird quirk of HSA law, if you only got an HDHP in December 2020, you can still contribute as if you had a plan the whole year. But if for any reason you move out of an HDHP during the next calendar year, youâll owe income taxes plus a 10% penalty on 11/12 of your contribution limit from 2020. Confusing? Yes, 12 times out of 12.
Long story short, if you came late to the HDHP party but might be bowing out early in 2021, you probably donât want to stash away a ton of money this way.
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The Third Stimulus Check Won’t Come For At Least A Few More Weeksbut It Could Also Be Months
Before Biden’s plan can make its way through Congress to vie for approval, he must be inaugurated. Once Biden is in office on Jan. 20, he can begin the process of getting his plan approved. If the bill gets blocked in Congress, however, Americans could be waiting for checks longer than a few weeks.
“The big determining factor on when folks would see that top up really comes down to how long it takes something like this to get through Congress,” Garrett Watson, a senior policy analyst at the Tax Foundation, told CNBC. Coming to an agreement on the relief package could take a couple of months, according to Watson. As Newsweek reports, Democrats will be in a position to bring the stimulus bill to the Senate floor for a vote, but seeing as the chamber is split 50-50, they may need at least 10 Republicans to sign on to avoid a filibuster.
In a letter to members of Congress from incoming Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on Tuesday, Jan. 12, he said, according to Newsweek: “The job of COVID emergency relief is far from complete. Democrats wanted to do much more in the last bill and promised to do more, if given the opportunity, to increase direct payments to a total of $2,000. We will get that done.”
Watson added that once Congress approves the price point of the new checks, Americans can see the money in their account very quickly.
Who Is Eligible For The Recovery Rebate Credit 2021

Single filers who had incomes between $75,000 and $80,000 in 2020 but had lower incomes in 2021 married couples who filed a joint return and had incomes between $150,000 and $160,000 in 2020 but had lower incomes in 2021 and head of household filers who had incomes between $112,500 and $120,000 in 2020 but had lower …
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Where Is My Third Stimulus Check
You can track the status of your third stimulus check by using the IRS Get My Payment tool, available in English and Spanish. You can see whether your third stimulus check has been issued and whether your payment type is direct deposit or mail.
When you use the IRS Get My Payment tool, you will get one of the following messages:
Payment Status, which means:
- A payment has been processed. You will be shown a payment date and whether the payment type is direct deposit or mail or
- Youre eligible, but a payment has not been processed and a payment date is not available.
Payment Status Not Available, which means:
- Your payment has not been processed or
- Youre not eligible for a payment.
Need More Information, which means:
- Your payment was returned to the IRS because the post office was unable to deliver it. If this message is displayed, you will have a chance to enter your banking information and receive your payment as a direct deposit. Otherwise, you will need to update your address before the IRS can send you your payment.
Who Is Eligible For The Third Stimulus Check
While eligibility is similar to the first and second stimulus checks, there are differences. There are four primary requirements:
1. Income: The income requirements to receive the full payment are the same as the first and second stimulus checks. There is no minimum income needed to qualify for the payment. Households with adjusted gross income up to $75,000 for individuals will receive the full payment. The third stimulus payment starts to phaseout for people with higher earnings. The third stimulus checks maximum income limit is lower than the first and second stimulus check. Single filers who earned more than $80,000 in 2020 are ineligible for the third stimulus check.
View the chart below to compare income requirements for the first, second, and third stimulus checks.
Income to Receive Full Stimulus Payment | First Stimulus Check Maximum Income Limit | Second Stimulus Check Maximum Income Limit | Third Stimulus Check Maximum Income Limit |
Single Filer | |||
$120,000 |
2. Social Security Number: This requirement is different from the first and second stimulus check.
Any family member that has a Social Security number or dependent can qualify for the third stimulus check. For example, in a household where both parents have ITINs, and their children have SSNs, the children qualify for stimulus checks, even though the parents dont.
See the chart below for further explanation of how this works.
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How Much Do You Need To Make To Be Eligible For The Third Stimulus Check
- There is no minimum income needed to qualify for the payment. Households with adjusted gross incomes from $0 up to $75,000 for individuals will receive the full payment. Payments will then phase out to $0 once a maximum income level is reached . For example, an individual earning less than $75,000 can receive the full payment, individuals earning between $75,000 and $80,000 can receive a smaller payment, while individuals earning more than $80,000 will receive no payment at all.
Who Qualifies For The Third Stimulus Check
Millions of Americans who were eligible for the $600 second stimulus checks could qualify for the third round of stimulus payments up to $1,400. However, many high-earning taxpayers who were eligible for previous stimulus checks are now excluded. The plan narrows income eligibility to exclude individuals earning over $80,000 and couples making over $160,000:
- Singles phase out at AGIs between $75,000 and $80,000.
- Heads of household phase out at AGIs between $112,500 and 120,000.
- Couples phase out at AGIs between $150,000 and $160,000.
Keep in mind that this is different from the sliding scale that was used to determine eligibility for previous stimulus payments. The IRS reduced second stimulus checks by 5% for the total amount made over the AGI limit. This means that payments went down by $5 for every $100 over the limit.
The table below breaks down third stimulus payments based on narrower income ranges for singles and joint tax filers:
$1,400 Stimulus Checks With Narrower Income Ranges |
Single AGI |
$174,000 and up | $0 |
If you want to get a specific breakdown, SmartAssets third stimulus check calculator will give you an estimate based on your filing status, AGI and dependents.
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Third Round Of Stimulus Checks: March 2021
Barely a week after the second round of stimulus payments were completed, new president Joe Biden entered office and immediately unveiled his American Rescue Plan, which proposed a third of round of payments to Americans, including some of those who might have missed out on the first two rounds.
On Thursday 11 March, Biden signed his $1.9tn American Rescue Plan into law. The third payment provided eligible individual taxpayers for a check of up to $1,400, while couples filing jointly could receive a maximum of $2,800. In addition, families with dependents were eligible for an extra payment of $1,400 per dependent, regardless of the dependent’s age this time, there was no limit to the number of dependents that could be claimed for.
The first stimulus payments were issued swiftly – just hours after Biden has signed the bill, the first batch of 164 million payments, with a total value of approximately $386 billion, arrived by direct deposit in individuals bank accounts. Some received their payments on the weekend of 13/14 March 2021. Since then, payments had been sent on a weekly basis including “plus-up” payments until the end of the year. Like before, those who didn’t get all the EPI3 funds in 2021 due to them will be able to claim them when they file their tax returns in the spring of 2022.
What Do The Experts Say
Some lawmakers have pushed back against limiting the payout to a smaller group of households, such as Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont.
“It is absurd that some Democrats think we should tell a worker making $52,000 a year that they are ‘too rich’ and cannot get the full $2000 benefit we promised,” he wrote last month on Twitter.
The ranks of adults experiencing financial hardship in January was little changed from December, despite the rollout of the second round of stimulus checks, according to Morning Consult economist John Leer. Most of the struggles were experienced by people earning less than $50,000 in annual income, he said.
A third round of $1,400 checks would allow 22.6 million adults to pay their expenses for more than four months without going into more debt or eating into any savings they may still have, his analysis found.
“Low-income households and parents were the most desperate to receive their second stimulus checks and are the most likely to need additional stimulus going forward,” Leer wrote in his analysis. “According to a survey conducted at the beginning of February, Americans with annual household incomes under $50,000 already spent roughly 67% of money they received.”
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Who Gets The 1400 Stimulus Check 2021
Dependents of all ages are eligible for the $1,400 additional credit. A further group who can use a 2021 tax return to get their third stimulus check is eligible Americans who did not file a return for the 2019 or 2020 tax years and also did not claim a direct payment by using the IRS’ online tool for non-filers.
How Much Are The Payments Worth

The third economic impact payment is worth up to $1,400 per individual and dependent.
Single filers earning an adjusted gross income up to $75,000 and heads of household earning up to $112,500 will receive $1,400, and married couples earning up to $150,000 are eligible for $2,800. Those taxpayers will also receive $1,400 for each dependent.
After that, there is a steep income phase out: The payments decrease to zero for single filers at $80,000, for heads of household at $120,000 and for married couples at $160,000 AGI. Taxpayers will receive the same amount for each dependent.
The phase out rate is not uniform for the third round of direct payments, according to the Tax Foundation. It will depend on a taxpayer’s filing status and the number of dependents.
Single filers, for example, will experience a 28% phase out rate, meaning that they will receive $280 less for every $1,000 over $75,000 they earn, says Garrett Watson, a senior policy analyst at the Tax Foundation. An individual with an AGI of $77,000 would receive $840.
At the same time, while a married couple with no dependents would also see a 28% phase out rate, a couple with one dependent would see a 42% phase out rate. A couple with one dependent and an AGI of $155,000 would receive $2,100 total.
To see how much relief you may receive, use this calculator.
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Changes To Tax Credits
the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Child Tax Credit .
The EITC is a tax credit that provides financial assistance to workers earning around $57,000 or less. The credit is partially refundable , which means it can reduce your taxes or increase your refund.
You may qualify for the EITC with or without children but currently, the credit is fairly small for people without kids. For 2021, you can qualify for a maximum credit of $6,728 if you have up to three children. However, for childless taxpayers, the total amount you can claim is $543.
Biden proposes to temporarily increase the EITC for childless workers for one year, allowing those who qualify to claim a credit of up to $1,500. The EITC will remain unchanged for those with kids.
The bill also contains big changes to the child tax credit although theyre temporary and will only last for one year. Under the current law, a person might qualify to claim a credit of up to $2,000 per child under 17. Bidens plan greatly boosts the credit, increasing the CTC up to $3,600 for children ages under the age of 6. Children ages six to 17 might qualify for a credit of up to $3,000. Another provision in the package would allow the credit to be fully refundable to those who qualify.
Who Qualifies For The Third Stimulus Payments
Generally, if youâre a U.S. citizen and not a dependent of another taxpayer, you qualify for the full third stimulus payment. In addition, your adjusted gross income canât exceed:
- $150,000 for married filing jointly
- $112,500 for heads of household
- $75,000 for single filers
A partial payment may be available if your income exceeds the thresholds. However, you will not receive any payment if your AGI is at least:
- $160,000 for married filing jointly
- $120,000 for heads of household
- $80,000 for single filers
The full amount of the third stimulus payment is $1,400 per person and an additional $1,400 for each qualifying dependent.
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I Didn’t File A 2019 Or 2020 Tax Return And Didn’t Register With The Irsgov Non
Yes, if you meet the eligibility requirements. While you won’t receive an automatic payment now, you can still get all three payments. File a 2020 return and claim the Recovery Rebate Credit.
The IRS urges people who don’t normally file a tax return and haven’t received any stimulus payments to look into their filing options. The IRS will continue reaching out to non-filers so that as many eligible people as possible receive the stimulus payments they’re entitled to.
The IRS encourages people to file electronically, and the tax software will help figure the correct stimulus amount, which is called the Recovery Rebate Credit on 2020 tax forms. Visit IRS.gov/filing for details about IRS Free File, Free File Fillable Forms, free VITA or TCE tax preparation sites in the community or finding a trusted tax professional.