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Americans to receive President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package in their bank accounts this weekend. The Biden administration officials said the first batch of $1,400 stimulus payments was processed on Friday with additional large batches of payments to be sent via direct deposits or through the mail as checks or debit cards in the coming weeks. A news outlet also reported that some Americans received the direct deposit stimulus payment on Friday evening. Wells Fargo and Chase Bank issued a statement on Saturday and said eligible customers can expect electronic stimulus payments to be deposited on Wednesday, 17^th March 2021. The IRS Commissioner Chuck Retting issued a statement and said, “IRS employees again worked around the clock to quickly deliver help to millions of Americans struggling to cope with this historic pandemic, even though the tax season is in full swing”.

Retting added, “The payments will be delivered automatically to taxpayers, even as the IRS is continuing delivering regular tax refunds”. Point to be noted that a family of 4 earning up to $150,000 will receive $5,600. The officials said this round of checks will also go to all qualifying dependents, unlike the first 2 payments which were limited to children under 17. It includes college students, adults with disabilities, parents, and grandparents. They also stressed that no action was needed by taxpayers to receive the payments. It will be based on 2019 or 2020 tax returns, depending on which was the latest filed or data supplied to the IRS last year by non-filers. More than 85% of Americans are estimated to be eligible for the payments. The major objective is to have millions of the payments disbursed in the next few weeks.

The officials said that IRS (Internal Revenue Service) will automatically send payments to those who typically do not file tax returns, but received Social Security and Railroad Retirement Board benefits, Supplemental Security Income, or Veteran benefits in 2020. Taxpayers can now log onto the Get My Payment tool on the IRS website to check the status of these payments. The officials urged people to file their tax returns electronically to ease the process. They could also qualify for other relief including child tax credits. Around 160 million US households will receive some $400 billion in direct payments of $1,400 per person. It would help individuals earning up to $75,000 annually and couples up to $150,000. Those earning more than $80,000 individually or $160,000 per couple will not be eligible for this round of stimulus payments.