State low-income relief’s in the mail
Late last year, Gov. Charlie Baker announced that lowincome Massachusetts residents will receive $500 COVID recovery checks. Now that the checks are in the mail, residents should be getting them soon.
A spokesperson for the state’s Office of Administration and Finance said that, as of March 31, approximately 500,000 checks are in the mail on their way to Bay Staters who made lower incomes in 2020.
Everyone who is eligible for the checks will automatically receive them, and do not have to request them. People should receive their checks by next week.
Those with questions about eligibility can visit the state’s COVID-19 Essential Employee Premium Pay Program web page or call the call center at 866-750-9803 between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday through Friday.
As the Herald previously reported, these payments comprise $250 million of a $460 million program passed by the state Legislature to spend the state’s American Rescue Plan Act funds.
Massachusetts residents will be eligible for these payments if their 2020 tax returns show an income of at least $12,750, or the equivalent of a 20-hour work week for 50 weeks at minimum wage in 2020. Eligible workers’ total income must have been below 300% of the federal poverty level.
In 2020, that income had to be below $38,280 for a single person household, $51,720 for two people, $65,160 for three people and $78,600 for four people. A full chart can be found on Mass.gov. Workers from any industry are eligible for the payments. Married couples have to qualify independently to each receive a payment.
Those who received unemployment benefits in 2020 will not qualify for this round of payments, nor will state executive branch employees who received COVID payouts from their employers.
A future round of payments will be based on 2021 tax returns, and additional rounds are also on the table.