What You Need to Know About a Second Stimulus Payment

The economic relief measure approved by the U.S. Congress includes a second round of direct stimulus payments to households -- an acknowledgment that families need another injection of cash to get through the latest surge in coronavirus cases and the restrictions that followed. The hope is that the payments, along with additional money for small businesses, the unemployed and more nutrition benefits, can help bolster households and combat rising poverty rates. Lawmakers approved $600 checks for most adults and $600 for each of their children. After calling those amounts too small, President Donald Trump relented and signed the bill into law.

If you earn less than $75,000, or you and your spouse collectively make less than $150,000, you’d get $600 for each of you plus $600 for each dependent child. Those amounts would be reduced by $5 for every $100 you earn above the income threshold, which means those earning more than $87,000 as an individual or $174,000 as a couple get nothing. Also receiving the payments: seniors whose only income is from Social Security, railroad retirees and veterans who rely on disability payments. If the Internal Revenue Service issues more than you are supposed to receive, you do not have to pay the excess amount back. The government is not allowed to reclaim the payments to pay back federal or state debts, and banks are forbidden from garnishing them.