Second Stimulus Check: When Would Potential Payment Arrive?

The chances of a second stimulus check plan being approved seem to be getting better, which might have some wondering when the potential payment would arrive. Thankfully, the fine people at CNET mapped out some speculative dates for the stimulus payments, and we are sharing those here. Notably, the outlet used the timeline from the CARES Act to help create some possible dates for the next payment.

Based on CNET’s projections, if the House and the Senate passed a bill by the first of October, then the president could sign it by Oct. 2. This would put the first direct deposit payments being able to go out the week of Oct. 12. If a bill was signed into law by Oct. 14, then payments could go out as soon as the week of Oct. 19. It is important to note that the first payments would be direct deposit, as that is what the IRS uses first when sending out the funds, due to the department already having this information on file for many Americans. Paper checks and EIP cards would likely go out many weeks later.

As far as the logistics of getting payments sent out, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin previously stated that he can get them out fairly quickly after approval. “I could have them out immediately,” he said at the time. “If I could get it passed tomorrow, I could start printing them the following week.” Mnuchin added. “I could get out 50 million payments really quickly.” Notably, this timeline seems to be reflected in CNET’s projections.

There is currently no way of knowing how the negotiations over the new stimulus bill will go, but it is possible that lawmakers could approve a bill that gives $1,200 to all citizens — $2,400 to married couples who file their taxes jointly — and their dependents, up to three. This is the amount outlined in the HEROES Act, which was passed by the House in May. The Cares Act only provided $500 for dependents. At this time, there is no word on when official relief bill negotiations will resume.