The U.S. Senate passed President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion COVID-19 Relief Bill on Saturday. The House of Representatives will vote this Tuesday whether to approve changes made to the bill by the Senate. If approved, the bill will direct a third round of stimulus checks to many Americans, totaling $1,400 direct payments to qualifying individuals earning up to $75,000. Personal finance columnist Michelle Singletary spoke to Boston Public Radio on Monday about the ins and outs of the upcoming stimulus payments.
Will you qualify for this latest round of stimulus payments?
You don't have to have any income to get this stimulus check, Singletary says, but there will be income caps on who's eligible. If you're filing as an individual, your eligibility is based on adjusted gross income, which is income after certain deductions like student loans or retirement account contributions.
"If you make $75k or less, you're entitled to the full $1,400 stimulus check," Singletary said. "If you're head of household, which typically are single parents, the ceiling is $112,500. If you're a married couple, it's $150,000."
Where this third package differs is the phase out, or point at which you don't qualify for payment, Singletary noted. "So if you're an individual, it's after you've made $80k, and for couples, its double that at $160k. So you might've been eligible with the previous payments but not this one."
Who qualifies as a dependent?
In previous stimulus payments, a dependent was someone who was younger than 17 years old, Singletary said. "Now, no matter the age of your dependent, you will get that payment," she said. "That's a boon for people who have college students, and those who are taking care of their disabled adult children, or people taking care of their elderly parents."
In this round, dependent payments will be $1,400, Singletary said. In previous stimulus packages, dependents got far less — $500 in the first stimulus check and $600 in the second stimulus check.
The whole point of these checks is to get money into people's hands so they can then spend it and pump money into the economy, Singletary added.
"The lower the income you have, the more likely you're going to have to spend this money on food, your mortage, or things you need to run your household," she said. "I think the vast majority of people getting these payments are going to spend it, and spend it right away, so there will be an infusion of cash into the economy."
Singletary is a personal finance columnist for The Washington Post and author of “The 21 Day Financial Fast." Her column "The Color Of Money" is syndicated in newspapers across the country.
