Two stimulus checks went out during Donald Trump’s presidency, for a combined maximum of $1,800 per eligible adult. The first, up to $1,200, was authorized by the CARES Act in late March 2020. The second, up to $600, followed under the Consolidated Appropriations Act signed on December 27, 2020. Both were officially called Economic Impact Payments and were paid as advance refundable tax credits rather than benefit checks.1U.S. Department of the Treasury. Economic Impact Payments
The First Check: Up to $1,200 in Spring 2020
Congress passed the CARES Act as the pandemic’s first wave shut down businesses and triggered mass layoffs. The law created a tax credit under 26 U.S.C. § 6428 that the IRS paid out as direct cash. Individual filers received up to $1,200, married couples filing jointly up to $2,400, and families got an additional $500 for each qualifying child under 17.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 6428 – 2020 Recovery Rebates for Individuals A married couple with two young children could receive up to $3,400. Payments began going out within weeks of the law’s passage, starting with people who had direct deposit information on file.
The Second Check: Up to $600 in Late December 2020
The second round arrived nine months later inside a year-end spending package. Under 26 U.S.C. § 6428A, individual filers received up to $600, married couples up to $1,200, and the per-child amount was $600 for each qualifying child under 17.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 6428A – Additional 2020 Recovery Rebates for Individuals A married couple with two children could receive up to $2,400. The smaller individual amount drew criticism from lawmakers in both parties, some of whom pushed for $2,000 checks instead.
Income Limits for Both Rounds
Both rounds used the same income thresholds. You received the full payment if your adjusted gross income was at or below:4Internal Revenue Service. Heres How Much Individuals Will Get From the Economic Impact Payments
- $75,000 for single filers
- $112,500 for head of household
- $150,000 for married filing jointly
Above those levels, the payment shrank by $5 for every $100 of additional income.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 6428 – 2020 Recovery Rebates for Individuals In the first round, a single filer with no children received nothing above $99,000 and a childless couple hit zero at $198,000.4Internal Revenue Service. Heres How Much Individuals Will Get From the Economic Impact Payments The second-round cutoffs were lower because the base amount was smaller. A single filer hit zero at $87,000.
Who Was Excluded
You needed a valid Social Security number, and you could not be claimed as a dependent on someone else’s return.5Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. A Guide to COVID-19 Economic Stimulus Relief That dependent rule created the biggest gap. Adult dependents got nothing. College students claimed on a parent’s return, adult children with disabilities living at home, and elderly parents claimed as dependents all fell into that hole, and the person claiming them didn’t get the $500 or $600 child amount either, because the dependent was over 16.
Mixed-status families faced another exclusion. If either spouse on a joint return used an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number instead of a Social Security number, the first round denied the entire household, including the citizen spouse and children. The second round changed that in part by letting the SSN-holding spouse receive a payment, though the ITIN-holding spouse remained excluded.
Garnishment: The Two Rounds Weren’t Treated the Same
The first payment had no federal protection from garnishment by private creditors. If a creditor had a court order, banks were required to hand the money over, and this caught many recipients by surprise. The Consolidated Appropriations Act closed that gap for the second payment, protecting the $600 checks from garnishment for private debts, federal debts, and past-due child support. Banks could still apply second-round funds to overdrawn account balances.
How These Compare to the Third Stimulus Check
If you’ve heard people mention three checks, the third one was not a Trump-era payment. It went out in March 2021 under President Biden’s American Rescue Plan and paid up to $1,400 per individual and $2,800 for married couples filing jointly.1U.S. Department of the Treasury. Economic Impact Payments It also opened eligibility to adult dependents and removed the mixed-status family restrictions.
Across all three rounds, an eligible single adult with no children could have received up to $3,200 total. A married couple with two qualifying children could have received up to $11,400. The two Trump-era checks account for roughly half of the individual total.
Can You Still Claim a Missed Trump-Era Check?
No. People who qualified but never received one of the first two payments could claim the difference as the 2020 Recovery Rebate Credit on a 2020 federal return, but the deadline to file that return and claim the credit was May 17, 2024.6Internal Revenue Service. IRS Reminds Eligible 2020 and 2021 Non-Filers to Claim Recovery Rebate Credit Before Time Runs Out The deadline for the third-round credit on a 2021 return was April 15, 2025. Once those three-year filing windows closed, the IRS had no mechanism for late claims.