$600 Stimulus Checks: Who are Qualified and When Will it Arrive?

By Neil P. First Posted: Dec 28, 2020 11:46 PM EST

President Donald Trump signed the Relief Bill on Sunday that includes $600 direct stimulus checks. Many are now questioning who qualifies for the checks and when to receive the aid.

(Photo : Pexels/Karolina Grabowska)

Millions of Americans will finally receive the financial aids they have long been asking for from the lawmakers and federal government amid the global pandemic.

Pres. Trump has already signed the roughly $900 billion Stimulus package that includes $600 direct stimulus checks.

$900 Stimulus Package

After months of disagreements over the total amount of the new Relief Bill, both the House of Senate and Congress have finally sealed the deal and put it on Pres. Trump's table. There were delays before the President signed it but on Sunday Pres. Trump signed the bill.

The center of the Relief Bill is the $600 direct stimulus checks and $300 weekly unemployment benefit. Though the stimulus check is less than half of the previous aid under the CARES Act last March, but there is a standalone bill that aims to give $2,000 stimulus checks.

Who is Eligible to Get $600 Stimulus Checks?

Not everyone is eligible to get $600 stimulus checks. According to a published article in ABC News, a person who made up to $75,000 and a couple earning $150,000 last year are eligible to get the $600 direct stimulus checks. A family of four under the income threshold can expect to receive $2,400 in direct payments.

However, this payment phased out individuals who are earning more than $87,000 last year. Moreover, this could not only be the amount that Millions of Americans will receive. The House recently approved a bill that pushes for another $2,000 direct stimulus checks.

When To Receive the $600 Stimulus Checks?

Before Pres. Trump signed the roughly $900 billion Stimulus Package, the U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin already said that the amount may start hitting the into the bank accounts of millions of Americans as early as this week.

However, it can be remembered that it took two weeks for direct deposits to roll out to Americans during the first round of stimulus through the CARES Act in March and those who did not file taxes last year waited for a much longer time. Some also opted to receive the aid in other options.

During a phone interview, Mnuchin said, "The good news is this is a very, very fast way of getting money into the economy. Let me emphasize: people are going to see this money at the beginning of next week."

Moreover, a credible source from the administration also said that they are now working to send 130 million direct deposits by New Year's Day and then work to send out 10 million paper checks to eligible taxpayers each week.

Janet Holtzblatt, a senior fellow at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, said, "Rolling out a second payments in combination with the start-up of the filing season -- that raises new wrinkles. It's hard to imagine that the IRS (or any organization) could process payments to millions of people and simultaneously start up the new filing season without snafus occurring -- either with the payments or in the filing season."