US President Joe Biden signed a massive economic relief package in March that included a $1,400 direct payment for millions of households dealing with the impact of COVID-19 pandemic. But will some Americans still be getting the checks next year. Yes, according to a Forbes report. The $1,400 payments sent out earlier this year were based on 2020 tax returns, meaning they didn’t cover 2021 newborns.
The “American Rescue Plan” deems Americans earning up to $75,000 annually eligible to receive a $1,400 stimulus check. Couples with income of up to $150,000 are eligible to receive the full $1,400 per person. A single-filer earning above $80,000 or a couple jointly earning above $160,000 will be completely phased out, the report says.
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The package also raised the child tax credit for one year. Eligible parents get $3,600 for children aged 5 or below, with half of the credit being sent in the form of monthly advances between July and December. That excludes parents who opt out, or parents of children born in 2021.
Eligible parents welcoming a newborn this year could see an additional $5,000 credit on their 2021 tax return.
With a death toll of more than 630,000 and 37.6 million cases, US continues to be the worst-affected country due to COVID-19. The emergence of Delta variant and the sharp surge in cases over the past month have caused concerns about the impact on a recovering US economy.
The Department of Labor on Thursday reported that jobless claims had dropped to 348,000 from nearly a million in early January even as the Joe Biden administration announced plans to provide additional protection to Americans with a third booster dose of COVID vaccine. “As life normalises and the service sector continues to gain momentum (delta variant permitting), we expect initial jobless claims to remain in a downtrend,” Joshua Shapiro, chief US economist at the consulting firm Maria Fiorini Ramirez, was quoted as saying.