Stimulus check 3 update: Money amounts, limits, adult dependents
In March of 2021, a bill in the Senate contained an order for a third economic stimulus check for citizens of the United States. As posted online by the United States Government in documentation on its way to a final vote, this is the third such check since the start of the COVID-19 global pandemic. Payments in this bill are very similar to those in the past two bills, and adjust SLIGHTLY for some of those individuals at the high end of eligibility.
Individual filing alone
What we're doing here is comparing the latest bill (likely passing this week) to the final rules of the 2nd check. If you are an individual making less than $75k per year, there is NO difference in the way your check is affected.
If you make less than $75k a year and you are an individual, not the head of household, not filing a joint return, you'll recieve the full check of $1400. That's the same situation as it was with the last check, last year.
If you make more than $75k, the amount you get in your check will be reduced by a percentage all the way up to $80k. In the last check, this max was $100k. If you make more than $80k a year as an individual, you will get zero dollars.
Joint return
If you file jointly and make less than $150k per year, you'll get the full amount in a check. That's the same as it was with the second stimulus check last year. The rate at which this amount goes down is significantly more intense than it was with the second check. In the second check, you could make up to $198k filing jointly before your check was zero – now that amount is down to $160k.
So, again, if you file your taxes jointly and make up to $150k, you'll still get the full check. If you file jointly and make between $150k and $160k, you'll get a reduced check. If you file jointly and make more than $160k, your check will be zero.
Head of household
If you are an adult head of household, you'll get a full check provided you make less than $112,500 per year. That's the same as it was with the second check. This category's max (before the check reaches zero) expanded significantly.
With an individual head of household, the second check reached zero if the individual made more than $136,500 USD. With this third check, the check only reaches zero if you make more than $150,000 USD as an individual head of household.
Amounts in checks
In earlier checks, any "adult dependent" would not be counted for any sort of check amount. So if you were the head of a household and had a bunch of adult kids living with you, you'd get $1400, total. If your adult kids didn't file their own taxes, they wouldn't get any check whatsoever.
Now, adult dependents count just like they would as any other sort of dependent. As such, you will get $1400 multiplied by the number of dependents, plus your own $1400, or $2800 if you're filing jointly.
NOTE: These are only the rules as they appear in the most recent version of legislation. We'll only be SURE of the amounts and the limits and etc. once it's made official and posted by the IRS. We'll be keeping an eye on the whole thing from here to there – stay tuned!