Americans can now start tracking the status of their $1,400 stimulus checks
- The IRS said people can begin tracking the status of their payments online.
- The initial batch of $1,400 checks has started landing into people's bank accounts.
- The IRS is moving swiftly to send out the checks as part of Biden's stimulus law.
Americans are starting to see $1,400 stimulus checks land in their bank accounts this weekend under President Joe Biden's stimulus law. But people who don't get a direct payment right away won't be left unaware of its arrival for much longer.
The IRS said on Friday that people can begin tracking the status of their checks using the "Get my Payment" portal. The agency also said it expects to issue more direct deposits and send payments as a check or debit card over the coming weeks.
The IRS also said a payment date will be announced for beneficiaries of Social Security and other safety net programs.
Singles earning up to $75,000 in adjusted gross income qualify for the full amount, along with couples making up to $150,000. Each adult dependent is eligible for a check, a change from the first two rounds of stimulus payments.
People earning above those thresholds can still receive a smaller direct payment. But eligibility is capped for individuals earning more than $80,000 and joint filers making above $160,000. They'll get zero.
The swift arrival of the federal payments underscore the IRS's improving ability to get cash out the door quickly, especially for people with direct deposit information in their systems.
Last year, Congress and former President Donald Trump approved $1,200 stimulus checks for most taxpayers. Those government payouts started going out in two weeks.
Then in December, $600 checks started going out within days of Trump signing an earlier pandemic relief package. It took around a month and a half for the IRS to distribute 147 million payments.
Biden touted the direct payments during his first primetime address on Thursday evening, timed to the first anniversary of the nation's pandemic lockdowns. He said a family of four earning $110,000 can expect to receive $5,600 in cash benefits.
The federal government estimates this batch of direct payments will cost $411 billion.