In the third stimulus package, which was passed by the Joe Biden administration in March to help people impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, some wealthy people also received the $1,400 checks. As per the new IRS data, some wealthy Americans, who were not supposed to receive the money, got the checks in the third stimulus package that have the highest amounts. 

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) of the US in its data said that for people with an adjusted gross income above $200,000, a total of 127,751 checks were sent out, for a total of $392.3 million.

The amount is out of a total of 163.5 million total payments that totaled $389.9 billion.

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Thus, wealthy people who received the payments in the third stimulus package comes as a surprise due to eligibility requirements. A part of the American Rescue Plan, the stimulus package was passed by Congress after the income threshold of eligible people was lowered from the first two rounds of checks. The payments included up to $1,400 per adult and $1,400 per child or adult dependent. 

Individuals with an adjusted gross income of up to $75,000, heads of household earning up to $112,500, and married couples, who are filing jointly, earning $150,000 were only eligible for the payments in the third stimulus. People above the bracket of these thresholds were not eligible for the payment. 

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Meanwhile, an IRS spokesperson said some families with enough qualifying dependents and adjusted gross income over $200,000 would still not have their third stimulus checks reduced to zero, CNBC reported. 

An analysis by the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that the largest number of payments were made to states with the largest populations in the US, which include California, Texas, Florida and New York.