COVID relief checks totaling up to $600 per individual will be mailed today, while payments via direct deposit began yesterday, according to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who made the announcement in a couple of tweets yesterday.
Taxpayers whose bank information is on file with the Internal Revenue Service should receive direct deposits by January 4,according to the Wall Street Journal.
People who havent provided their bank information to the IRS in recent years will receive their payments by mail, either as a paper check or aEIP pre-paid debit card.
Check your payment status
With the IRSGet My Paymentwebpage, it’s possible for you to check the status of both the first and second stimulus checks, however, that portal is temporarily offline todaythe IRS says that the tool will be available again later this week, so check back then.
In the meantime, you’ve got the option to figure out how much money youll be entitled to using thisCOVID relief calculator.
How quickly mailed checks will arrive remains to be seen, however, as some people are still waiting for their first relief checksmonths after the Treasury mailed them out.
While it might be too late for this round of checks, if you want to set up a direct deposit with the IRS you canfollow these steps.
Also, if youve recently moved, see to it your new address is on file with USPS and that your mail is forwardingthen change your address with the IRSusing Form 8822 here.
Good news for unemployment program recipients
It turns out that President Trumps late signing of the COVID relief legislation willnotaffect unemployment benefits for claimants in thePandemic Unemployment Assistance(PUA) andPandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation(PEUC) programs.
Since the bill was signed so late, it was widely speculated that the benefits would lapse for the week of December 27, but the Department of Laborhas clarifiedthat it does not anticipate that eligible claimants will miss a week of benefits due to the timing of the laws enactment.
The roughly 14 million Americans that use these programs can expect to receive the full 11 weeks of benefits, through March 14, 2021.
There was also some uncertainty about whether the additional $300 federal top-up on state unemployment benefits would be backdated.
The Department of Labor has confirmed that the benefits will run for 11 weeks, beginning December 26, 2020 and ending on or before March 14, 2021.
