How soon might you recieve $1,400 check?

The House will vote to clear the latest pandemic relief package for President Joe Biden’s signature today, Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer told reporters Tuesday.

House lawmakers received the paperwork on Tuesday from the Senate after that chamber’s marathon vote that ended Saturday afternoon, resulting in numer- ous changes that had to be incorporated.

The final version was posted on the Rules Committee’s website Tuesday, and that panel met Tuesday afternoon to consider the rule for floor debate, which the House was to take up later in the day.

As the relief package makes its way to Biden’s desk, many Americans are wondering when the bene- fits will reach them.

The $1.9 trillion package known as the “American Rescue Plan” is massive, both in size and scope. It includes direct payments to most Americans, aid to small businesses, financial help for schools and much more to help the country recover from the financial ravages of the pandemic.

The timing of its passage is crucial — most notably because some pandemic unemployment benefits will be coming to an end on Sunday.

Millions of taxpayers could begin see direct benefits almost immediately, some later this month and oth- ers taking several months to accomplish.

Here’s what you need to know about the main planks of the spending plan:

Relief checks

The legislation provides a direct payment of $1,400 for a single taxpayer, or $2,800 for a married couple that files jointly, plus $1,400 per dependent. Individu- als earning up to $75,000 would get the full amount, as would married couples with incomes up to $150,000.

The size of the check would shrink for those mak- ing slightly more, with a hard cut-off at $80,000 for individuals and $160,000 for married couples.

Biden estimates that 85% of Americans will be eligi- ble for the payment. Some groups that were not eligible for prior payments — such as dependent college students and disabled adults — are now eligible.

Biden said the goal is to send out the payments starting this month.

“That means the mortgage can get paid. That means the child can stay in community college. That means maintaining the health insurance you have,” Biden said. “It’s going to make a big differ- ence in so many of lives in this country.”

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Tuesday that the administration is doing everything in its power to expedite payments. As such, the Trea- sury is working to get more payments to taxpayers by direct deposit. The agency will be able to send direct deposit payments to those who have their information on file from 2019 or 2020 tax filings or who provided it through other programs.

Unemployment

Expanded unemployment benefits from the federal government would be extended through Sept. 6 at $300 a week. That’s on top of payments from state unemploy- ment insurance program.

Despite a modest recovery, millions of Americans remain unemployed. The plan would also extend two key pandemic programs, which benefit about 11.8 mil- lion Americans.

These pandemic unem- ployment benefits were set to expire Sunday, so if there is a delay in the bill’s pas- sage there could be a gap in benefits. But the National Employment Law Project anticipates if things are final- ized this week, states and existing beneficiaries likely won’t see any interruption in payments.

The first $10,200 of jobless benefits would be non-tax- able for households with incomes under $150,000 but only for benefits from 2020. The IRS will have to issue guidelines on how to put this into practice.

Tax breaks

T he package contains a number of valuable tax breaks. One of the most notable is an increase in the tax credit that taxpayers can claim for dependent children.

Under current law, most taxpayers can reduce their federal income tax bill by up to $2,000 per child. The bill would increase the tax break to $3,000 for every child age 6 to 17 and $3,600 for every child under the age of 6.

Families would get the full credit regardless of how little they make in a year.

The aim is to deliver the money, which is an advance payment on the tax credit, in monthly payments instead of one larger lump sum.