When will your third stimulus check arrive? Here’s what just sped up the timeline

046-cash-money-dollars-bills-stimulus-check-congress-pass-mail-banking-finance-desperate-poverty-us-treasury

A third payment is inching closer.


Sarah Tew/CNET

We now have a pretty good idea when the third stimulus check could begin to arrive in people’s hands. It all starts with a new goal for a date to pass the $1.9 trillion stimulus package, which House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she expects to clear the House of Representatives in two weeks and be handed over to the Senate for a vote. Moreover, Pelosi thinks Congress can beat the previously forecast date of March 14 to pass the bill: “Absolutely. Without any question. Before then,” Pelosi said Friday. That means a stimulus check for up to $1,400 per person could get out the door quicker, too.

Underpinning the revised timeline for a “targeted” stimulus check — which would possibly also allot $1,400 for dependents — is a process to leapfrog Republican opposition and fast-track a vote along party lines. It’s a political maneuver, but one President Joe Biden has embraced in order to quickly send the checks and roll out other funding. 

Despite the speedier time frame, there still may be hurdles and delays. For example, the impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump, which starts Feb. 9, could potentially delay Biden’s stimulus agenda. There also will be the inevitable gap between approval of a $1,400 stimulus check and the time it lands in your bank account or mailbox. We’ve mapped out possible dates your check could arrive — depending on your payment priority group — and other important questions, like what happens if your third payment appears in the middle of the 2020 tax season. This story was recently updated with new information.

New stimulus payment schedule: Two timelines

“Next week, we will be writing the legislation to create a path to final passage for the Biden American Rescue Plan, so that we can finish our work before the end of February,” Pelosi said Friday, casting a new possible target date range for Congress may approve a bill, and the $1,400 stimulus check to go with it (calculate your potential total here). 

We’ve mapped out some hypothetical dates for two situations: if a bill were to pass before the end of February, or by March 14, a date when some existing benefits lapse. The chart below highlights when the IRS could potentially send the next stimulus check, based on how quickly the IRS processed and sent out the second stimulus payments. 

Note that checks for different payment groups (direct depositphysical checks and EIP cards) may begin to show up at different times. And it could take weeks for people in a group to all get their funds, so consider these dates a starting point only, and read on for more details. We’ll refresh these dates as the situation changes in Washington.

When could the next stimulus check possibly arrive?

Stimulus check passes Congress Friday, Feb. 26 Friday, March 12
Stimulus bill signed into law Monday, March 1 Sunday, March 14
First direct deposit check sent Week of March 8 Week of March 22
First paper checks sent Week of March 15 Week of March 29
First EIP cards sent Week of March 22 Week of April 5
Claims for missing stimulus money open (after tax season ends) May 3 May 3

Which priority group would you be in? That could change

This is an important question. Direct deposit recipients typically get their stimulus checks faster, as evidenced by the first two rounds. But there have been issues both times that saw deposits going to temporary accounts, which were rejected by the banks.

The IRS told CNET in January that some people who received a physical check or EIP card the first time may get paid by the other method the second time around. And, anecdotally, we’ve heard of people who received direct deposit payments the first time finally getting an EIP card in the mail — and not an electronic bank transfer — two weeks after the IRS tool said the payment was issued.

Our recommendation is to make sure you have direct deposit set up with the IRS as part of your 2020 tax return, if you ordinarily file taxes, and attempt to file them quickly, so you’re set with your most recent financial information.

The other groups that are loosely defined (by us) include social security beneficiaries, who received payments a different way the first time if they’re part of the SSI or SSDI programs, and people with more complex scenarios, which could lead to potential issues or holdups receiving their money. People in different child support situations have been one example, and so have people who are incarcerated, as well as those with more complex citizenship scenarios.


Now playing:
Watch this:

Stimulus check No. 3: What you need to know



2:59

How quickly could the IRS send all the new stimulus checks?

In fewer than three weeks from the date the second stimulus bill passed, the IRS and Treasury sent roughly 147 million payments. That was a tremendously fast turnaround. Back in March, it took the IRS 19 days after the first stimulus bill passed to the first check being issued. 

The Dec. 27 stimulus package gave the IRS just 17 days total, including weekends, to legally send out the payments, though some people have reported that they received their EIP cards two weeks after the date the IRS tool said it had shipped. (If you didn’t get yours, you have to claim it as part of tax season 2020.)

There was one notable direct deposit error as a result of the IRS’ rush to get payments delivered, and people who didn’t get their payment may now have to wait weeks or months for their second checks. But the scenario suggests that if the protocols are in place, the IRS could theoretically ship out third stimulus checks within days and weeks, rather than weeks and months.

As an interesting data point, the IRS was able to process between 5 and 7 million a week with the first stimulus check, according to a government report from June.

063-cash-money-dollars-bills-stimulus-check-congress-pass-mail-banking-finance-desperate-poverty-us-treasury

How you get your second stimulus check could also influence how soon your payment arrives.


Sarah Tew/CNET

How could tax season affect a new stimulus payment?

This is a great question, and it’s part of another question we repeatedly ask ourselves: How would the IRS and Treasury handle a third stimulus check? Some of that could very well depend on timing. For a start, it may be that the third check would rely on your 2019 taxes, not your 2020 tax return.

Let’s say that a stimulus bill were to pass both chambers of Congress before March 14, a month after the IRS begins processing the first 2020 tax returns. Would they send a separate check or attempt to bundle them in with the Recovery Rebate Credit for missing money from the first two checks? Either way, the IRS would have little time or available resources to process the third checks, or change their protocol to wrap the second into taxes.

If a bill passes March 14, it would still overlap with tax season by a month, before the April 15 tax deadline. 

By that time, tens of millions of Americans may have already received their tax refunds, which could make it tricky for the IRS to straighten out problems or redact refunds after issuing. Things could get complex whether the IRS would attempt to fold a third check delivery into the remaining tax cycle, or send a payment separately. 

Is there any way I can get my next check faster?

There may be a few things you can do to help speed up receipt of your payment, assuming it happens. For example, signing up for direct deposit in your 2020 tax return would put you in the priority category for a third stimulus payment. 

And if you’ve moved recently, tell the IRS and USPS. Here are our other suggestions for people to get their second checks faster. Note that, there could be some changes to qualifications that may not apply to a possible third stimulus check.

109-cash-money-dollars-bills-stimulus-check-congress-pass-mail-banking-finance-desperate-poverty-us-treasury

The first and second stimulus checks were nominally sorted by different payment groups, and one had a clear advantage over the others.


Sarah Tew/CNET

Would there be a delivery cutoff for the IRS, like last time? 

The Jan. 15 deadline set for the second stimulus check was written into the text of the bill without explanation. It isn’t immediately clear if the bill text would adopt another cutoff in the future, or if that was a one-time consideration that took into account the IRS’ overlapping duties to process stimulus checks and prepare for Tax Season 2020. Last year, the April 15 tax date was extended to July 15.

The two overlap with the second stimulus check in that anyone who didn’t receive all or part of their second payment must claim it as part of the IRS’ Recovery Rebate Credit on their tax return — even if they have nonfiler status and aren’t typically required to file taxes.

A third stimulus payment seems likely — is it guaranteed?

A bill that includes a stimulus payment isn’t a done deal until it’s signed into law. That said, Biden appears determined to drive forward a $1,400 check as part of his overarching stimulus plan, and Democrats in Congress have paved the way to push a bill through Republican opposition using a tool called budget reconciliation

Here’s everything you need to know about stimulus checks in general, including what to do if you have an issue with either of the first two payments.

source: cnet.com