A SEVENTH batch of $1,400 stimulus checks have been sent to Americans as IRS processes tax returns.
About two million payments were issued in the latest round, bringing the total to date to about 163 million.
It means the payments sent out over the last six weeks are worth roughly $384 billion.
The latest batch includes approximately 1.1 million direct deposits and 850,000 paper checks.
These went to Americans who had recently filed a 2020 tax return and meet certain income criteria.
Many were people the government did not have on record, as well as people due supplemental “plus-up” payments.
More than 1.2 million payments totalling over $3 billion were given to Americans not previously on file, while 730,000 “plus-up” payments worth $1.3 billion were issued.
This could increase once the IRS has processed new returns and established whether previous stimulus checks were too small, for example if their income has dropped.
Under Joe Biden’s stimulus bill, people with an adjusted gross income of up to $75,000 and couples with an adjusted gross income of $150,000 or less are eligible for full payments.
Taxpayers who earn less can still receive a partial payment, providing they bring home less than $80,000 individually, or $160,000 for married couples.
The government has urged those who do not receive federal benefits or file tax returns to do so in order to receive stimulus payments.
Americans may be entitled to larger payments if they lost their jobs or received reduce income during the pandemic.
These could also be applicable to those who had a child in 2020.
A new study today revealed that more than two million California residents did not receive any of their three stimulus checks due to a botched rollout.
The research from the California Policy Lab claims that 2.2million low-income Californians who are enrolled in safety-net programs fell into a “stimulus gap.“
They may have lost out on $5.7billion in relief funds in total, despite being eligible, the Berkley-based lab claims.
The Policy Lab also warns that these residents “likely did not receive these or prior stimulus payments automatically and may be in danger of not receiving them at all.”
It also comes as House Democrats introduced a plan for permanent $300 stimulus checks to parents.
The plan unveiled this week proposes the extension of the one-year child tax credit expansion – an anti-poverty initiative which formed a major part of the $1.9 trillion stimulus plan approved last month.
