As part of the economic stimulus package in the CARES Act, if you are at a certain income eligibility, you will receive a stimulus payment from the IRS in mid-April.

If you have set up direct deposit with the IRS, you should receive your check within the first three weeks of April. If not, the check will be mailed and will take a bit longer to arrive.

Who is eligible?

People eligible are those who have filed taxes in 2019 or 2018 with adjusted gross incomes of $75,000 or less. The payment will go down by $5 for every $100 earned over $75,000, and those who earned more than $99,000 for a single adult, or $198,000 for a couple, will not receive a check.

The IRS will take the information from your 2019 tax return, or 2018 return if you haven’t filed already, and will send the check to you. In most cases, there is nothing that you need to do.

People on Social Security, who have not filed taxes and meet the income eligibility requirements, will receive a check.

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Check amounts

The IRS is stating that checks will be up to the following amounts:

• Single adults – up to $1,200

• Married couples – up to $2,400

• Children – up to $500

Bill could potentially cover young adults as well

There is a window of young adults who are not eligible for the stimulus checks. Luckily, there is a bill in the works to provide payments for this group who are:

• Dependents up to age 19

• College students under age 24

• Dependents who are disabled

Social Security recipients

People on Social Security, as well as railroad retirees, will still get the stimulus checks even though they didn’t file taxes. They should receive the total amount of $1,200. As mentioned before, if your annual adjusted gross income is over $99,000, you won’t receive a check.

When will checks arrive?

Stimulus payments are supposed to arrive mid-April. If you have signed up for direct deposit with the IRS, you’ll receive the money directly in your bank account. In the next few weeks, there will also be an online option to sign up to receive the funds electronically. However, beware of scams and do not give your information out to anyone of whom you are unsure.

How far will the checks go?

According to an article in USA Today, though Americans are happy to receive the checks, they are not sure how long the money will help sustain them. With college students returning home, job losses, and many bills to pay, there is a lot to take care of at this time. Still, the stimulus payment is a much-needed help for many, with 80 percent of people saying that the check will be very important for their finances.

Next steps

Here is a calculator for figuring out the size of the check that you will receive. Again, if you have filed taxes in 2018 or 2019 there is nothing more you need to do at this time.

If you have not yet filed taxes and need to do so, there is still time. The stimulus payments will be available until the end of 2020. Visit the IRS’s coronavirus page for updates on stimulus payments and everything you need to know.