Second Stimulus Check: Here's Who Won't Get a $600 Payment

Daniel S. Levine

01/02/2021 11:41 pm EST

Another round of stimulus checks began hitting Americans' bank accounts late this week, although it was far less than what some had hoped. On Dec. 27, President Donald Trump finally signed a $900 billion coronavirus economic relief package, which included a $600 economic impact payment, or stimulus check, for Americans. Like the first round sent out last spring, not every American is eligible for the payment.

Trump held off on signing the relief aid immediately because he began advocating for a $2,000 direct payment to Americans and urged Congress to pass new legislation. The Democratic-led House of Representatives passed a bill doing so on Monday, but Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell stopped it from passing in the Senate. After the bill passed on Dec. 21, Trump called the $600 payment "ridiculously low" in a Twitter video. This still did not sway McConnell, who called a $2,000 stimulus check "socialism for rich people." However, if $2,000 check legislation followed the same format as the $600 program Congress just passed, very "rich people" would be among those ineligible for the payment. Here is a look at some of the groups of Americans who will not be receiving a $600 stimulus check.

Single Americans earning over $87,000

(Photo: Scott Eells/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Many of the same limitations put on the first stimulus check program in the CARES Act were carried over for the new program. However, with the amount of the check halved, thresholds were tweaked. Singe people who earn over $87,000 will not qualify for any check, compared to the $99,000 threshold for the CARES Act payment. Americans earning over $75,000 and between $87,000 will receive a check under $600. It will be reduced y $5 for every $100 an American earned above the $75,000 threshold, according to the House Appropriations Committee.

Married couples earning over $174,000

Married couples earning between $150,000 and $174,000 will receive less than $600. Any couple earning over $174,000 will not receive any payment. (The threshold for married couples in the CARES Act was $198,000.) Almost everyone in the bottom 80% of the income distribution in the U.S. will see a payment, the Tax Foundation estimated, reports CBS News.

Child dependents who are 17 years old

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While the new stimulus check program will add $600 to a family's payment for each child, 17-year-old dependent children will not count towards it. Thanks to the IRS' Child Tax Credit code, "qualifying children" are defined as a child who has not celebrated their 17th birthday yet. However, if a 17-year-old was 16 during the 2019 tax year, they could still qualify. Adults who earn over the thresholds previously mentioned could also receive $600 payments for their dependent children under 17.

College students and other adult dependents

One of the major gripes Americans had with the first stimulus check program carried over to the second. According to the Tax Foundation, adult dependents - which could include college students, disabled individuals, and seniors - do not qualify for the stimulus check. This caused frustration on social media again, as many college students have lost income because campus jobs are not there due to the pandemic.

Fixed issues from the CARES Act programs

(Photo: Mehmed Zelkovic / Getty Images)

Congress did go back to fix some of the oversights in the EIP program in the CARES Act. In that legislation, couples with a spouse who did not have a Social Security number did not qualify for payment at all. This issue was fixed in the new law. Children under 17 also received $600 payments instead of the $500 payments included in the CARES act. Congress also made sure that some groups who do not file taxes, like Social Security recipients, will receive their checks sooner instead of having to wait months like they did last time.

How the new checks are being distributed

The IRS and Treasury Department began sending the payments out in the latter half of this week, with some Americans already seeing it in their bank accounts. The direct deposits were sent to Americans for whom the IRS already had banking information. If the IRS does not have your information, the payments will be sent out as physical checks or as pre-paid debit cards. During the distribution of the first check, the IRS switched to pre-paid debit cards late in the process and set up the EIPCard.com site to help Americans use them.

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