Third Stimulus Check: Treasury Confirms Who Will First Receive $1,400 Payments

The U.S. Treasury Department on Wednesday confirmed that the first batch of $1,400 payments will go to Americans who gave their direct deposit information.

The IRS is expected to begin issuing the payments this month. Initial payments will be sent to Americans who provided their direct deposit information when they filed their taxes for 2019 or 2020, a Treasury Department official confirmed.

The IRS will use the information provided on the 2020 tax returns to determine which households are eligible to receive the $1,400 payments. The agency will also use 2019 taxes for households who have yet to file taxes for 2020.

The next group to receive stimulus payments will be taxpayers who did not give direct-deposit information but whose payment information is available to the IRS from other federal programs. The Biden administration will send paper checks or Economic Impact Payment (EIP) cards to households whose bank accounts cannot be determined, the Treasury Department said.

The $1,400 checks are part of President Biden’s $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, which provides more aid to jobless or struggling Americans, schools, and state and local governments.

The legislation would send single taxpayers who have an adjusted gross income of up to $75,000, heads of households earning up to $112,500 and married couples filing jointly who make up to $150,000 per year the full $1,400 via checks or direct payments.

The stimulus payment would not go to individuals earning more than $80,000, people who are heads of households making over $120,000 and married couples with joint incomes above $160,000.

The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday gave its final approval to the $1.9 trillion package, sending the bill to the president’s desk for his signature. Biden is expected to sign the legislation into law on Friday, according to the White House.

"A vaccinated American is the only way to beat the pandemic, get the economy back on track, and for us to get back our lives and our loved ones. That's why the American Rescue Plan was so critical," Biden said in remarks following the passing of the bill.

"Everything in the American Rescue Plan addresses a real need," he added, "including investments to fund our entire vaccination effort, more vaccines, more vaccinators, and more vaccination sites."