You can now find out when your next stimulus payment is expected to hit your bank account or get mailed.
The IRS updated the “Get My Payment” tool on its website with information on the third round of stimulus checks Saturday, agency spokesperson Karen Connelly confirmed to USA TODAY. Check for your status at www.irs.gov/coronavirus/get-my-payment.
The agency had said Friday the tool was expected to be available on Monday.
The third round of Economic Impact Payments will be based on a taxpayer’s latest processed tax return from either 2020 or 2019. That includes anyone who used the IRS non-filers tool last year, or submitted a special simplified tax return.
For those who received the first two stimulus checks but didn’t receive a payment via direct deposit, they will receive a check or a prepaid debit card.
Social Security and other federal beneficiaries will generally receive this third payment the same way as their regular benefits, the IRS said. A payment date for this group is expected to be announced soon.
The payments would amount to $1,400 for a single person or $2,800 for a married couple filing jointly, plus an additional $1,400 for each dependent child. Individuals earning up to $75,000 would get the full payments, as would married couples with incomes up to $150,000. Payments would decline for incomes above those thresholds, phasing out above $80,000 for individuals and $160,000 for married couples.
The IRS also updated frequently asked questions Saturday on how to use the “Get My Payment” tool, which requires users to enter their full Social Security number or tax ID number, date of birth, street address and ZIP code.
But before you start entering your information hourly, the IRS says the tool “updates once per day, usually overnight” and that people should “not call the IRS. Our phone assistors don’t have information beyond what’s available on IRS.gov.”
The tool will show the status of when a payment has been issued and the payment date for direct deposit or mail, according to the frequently asked questions. Some will get a message that says “Payment Status Not Available.”
“If you get this message, either we have not yet processed your payment, or you are not eligible for a payment,” the IRS said. “We will continue to send the 2021 Economic Impact Payment to eligible individuals throughout 2021,” the IRS said.
And others will get a “Need More Information” message when using the tool if the payment was returned to the IRS because the post office was unable to deliver it for another reason.
If your address has changed the IRS says the easiest way to update is to “file your 2020 tax return with your current address, if you haven’t already done so. Once we receive your current address, we will reissue your payment.”
In the coming weeks, more batches of payments will be sent via direct deposit and through the mail as a check or debit card, according to the agency. Some people may see the direct deposit payments as “pending” or as provisional payments in their accounts before the official payment date of March 17, the IRS added.
