Fourth stimulus check update – $1,400 ‘stimulus’ payment to be sent out as part of American Rescue Plan

SOME Americans could be in line for a stimulus payment worth up to $1,400 next year.

The money will be on top of their tax refund in 2022 thanks to the American Rescue Plan.

The package, worth a sizeable $1.9trillion in relief, which was passed in March is designed to give financial relief to those hardest hit by the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

As part of the rescue plan, payments worth up to $1,400 were allocated for eligible inviduals and their dependent children.

Those who qualify and had children in 2021 can claim the Recovery Rebate Credit when they file their next tax return in 2022.

Stimulus checks which were sent out in 2021 are advance payments of the Recovery Rebate Credit.

The stimulus payments in 2021 were based on a person’s tax return in 2020 or 2019 and so if a family had a baby in 2021 they wouldn’t have been included in the payment.

They can though make a claim on their tax return which is filed next year.

Payments, however, won’t go out as a separate check but anyone eligible for the additional payment will receive the credit as part of their 2021 refund.

To qualify as an eligible dependent, they must be under 19 years of age at the end of the year, unless they are a student and then they can be up to 24, or any age and permanently and totally disabled.

To be able to claim the full amount of stimulus money, a taxpayer must have an adjusted gross income under $75,000, or an income of $150,000 and are married and filing jointly.

The eligible dependent could also be in line to receive the Child Tax Credit.

It should be noted that there is no limit to the number of new dependents claimed, meaning that parents who welcomed more than one newborn will be able to receive multiple payments.

There were around 3.6million births in 2020, with the number expected to be fairly similar for this year.

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There had been widespread talk of another stimulus check in 2022 although it is now looking highly unlikely.

Almost 3million people have signed a Change.org petition for monthly $2,000 stimulus checks but lawmakers have all but ruled that out.

Meanwhile, around 803,000 stimulus checks will reach Californians in the next two weeks.

1.7million California stimulus checks are left to be paid out with eligible households receiving between $600 and $1,100 each.

The state plans to issue most payments under the Golden State Stimulus II program by the end of 2021.