IRS to issue first round of COVID-19 stimulus payments to individuals

If during the 2008-2009 financial crisis, it took the government several months before the first stimulus payments were issued to the American people, now the Treasury Department and the IRS have worked ‘around the clock’ to get the payments out, a Treasury Department official told ABC News.

In March 2020 the US Congress passed a USD 2 trillion rescue fund and the bill was promptly signed by President Donald Trump. The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act provides up to USD 1,200 for income-eligible individual taxpayers, and USD 2,400 for married couples, plus USD 500 per child.

Furthermore, the bill also provides an extension of unemployment benefits by 13 weeks and an additional USD 600 weekly for four months.

Taxpayers who provided the IRS with direct deposit information when they filed their taxes in 2018 or 2019 will receive their money the fastest. Others will have to wait for a paper check, and those checks are expected to be mailed starting in early May 2020, Newsy reported.