GREENSBORO, N.C. — The IRS has sent out 161 million stimulus payments in this third wave of stimulus payments. To help you wrap your head around that number, it’s the population of North Carolina and Virginia, South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, Kentucky, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Delaware, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Maine, New Jersey and New York.
That’s a lot of people! Millions of payments total billions of dollars, around $379 billion.
More folks got payments this week. This is the 6th batch of payments made on a Wednesday since March 17, 2021. This payday was $3.4 billion for about 2 million people.
Nearly 700,000 payments went to people the IRS didn't have their info for previously. Another 700,000 were ‘plus-up’ payments for people who filed taxes and were owed more money and 600,000 payments went to Social Security and SSI recipients
Of the most recent payments, 900,000 were direct deposit payments and 1.1 million were paper checks.
The IRS continues to put out this reminder- if you don't normally file taxes...you should. It's the only way to claim the stimulus money and it will help the IRS figure out if you should get those child tax credit advance payment checks that start this summer.
Check out the many FREE FILE options.
ADVANCE CHILD TAX CREDIT PAYMENTS DUE THIS SUMMER
More checks are coming. The American Rescue Plan expanded the Child Tax Credit in several ways.
Change #1: 17-year-olds are now included.
Change #2: The credit is now between $2,000 to $3,600 per child.
Change #3: You can get the tax credit BEFORE you file taxes. Monthly payments begin in July.
Change #4: The thresholds for phasing out increased (people who make more will not get more than they have in the past).
Families can receive $3,000 for each child from 6 to 17 years of age
and $3,600 for each child under the age of 6 for the 2021 tax year.
Normally, taxpayers would have received the money when they filed their tax returns and claimed the credit. Now, you don't have to wait until next year, the government is sending it out in monthly installments starting this summer.
