The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) will start directly depositing the economic impact payment—otherwise known as the stimulus check—into Americans' accounts for mid-April, around April 15.
These first direct deposits will go to Americans who filed tax returns in the past two years and whose payment details are already on record.
For those who have not filed tax returns recently, the Treasury said it was developing "in the coming weeks" a web-based portal to allow these people to provide their bank details and receive immediately the economic impact payment rather than waiting for checks in the mail.
This week, TurboTax launched a free tool in partnership with the IRS that allows Americans who are not required to file a tax return to register their details with the IRS to receive the economic impact payment directly into their accounts.
Anyone else will have to wait for a paper check. The Washington Post reported that checks for lower-income individuals will be prioritized and mailed first, citing an internal IRS plan circulating internally.
The IRS will reportedly start mailing checks out to those unable to receive the economic impact payment digitally from April 24, but some may not arrive until September.
The Treasury said social security recipients, who do not usually have to file a tax return to the IRS, will receive their economic impact payments directly and automatically into their accounts.
Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said social security recipients will get their stimulus payments "very quickly" after the first IRS deposits are made in mid-April.
"The vast majority of people do not need to take any action. The IRS will calculate and automatically send the economic impact payment to those eligible," the IRS states.
These economic impact payments were introduced under the $2 trillion stimulus package recently passed by Congress to help Americans and the economy through the worst of the coronavirus pandemic, which appears to have triggered a deep recession.
In the past two weeks, there have been nearly 10 million new unemployment claims, an unprecedented spike in joblessness.
The economic impact payments are worth up to $1,200 for individuals, $2,400 for married couples and $500 for each qualifying child.
According to the IRS: "Tax filers with adjusted gross income up to $75,000 for individuals and up to $150,000 for married couples filing joint returns will receive the full payment. For filers with income above those amounts, the payment amount is reduced by $5 for each $100 above the $75,000/$150,000 thresholds.
"Single filers with income exceeding $99,000 and $198,000 for joint filers with no children are not eligible. Social Security recipients and railroad retirees who are otherwise not required to file a tax return are also eligible and will not be required to file a return."
