Federal stimulus checks were issued in 2020 and 2021, across three separate rounds tied to the COVID-19 pandemic. The first payments went out in spring 2020, the second at the end of December 2020 and into January 2021, and the third throughout 2021. No stimulus checks have been issued in any year since.
Round One: 2020
The first round was authorized by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, signed into law on March 27, 2020.1GovInfo. Public Law 116-136 – Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act The IRS began sending payments in April 2020, with most direct deposits landing within a few weeks. Paper checks and prepaid debit cards continued to arrive through the summer.
Eligible adults received up to $1,200 each, married couples filing jointly received up to $2,400, and parents received an additional $500 for each qualifying child under age 17.1GovInfo. Public Law 116-136 – Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act The full amount went to single filers with adjusted gross income at or below $75,000, heads of household at or below $112,500, and joint filers at or below $150,000. Above those levels, the payment shrank by $5 for every $100 of additional income, disappearing entirely at $99,000 for a single filer with no dependents.
The IRS used 2018 or 2019 tax returns to figure out who qualified and where to send the money.
Round Two: Late 2020 into Early 2021
Congress authorized the second round through the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021, signed on December 27, 2020. Payments dropped to $600 per eligible adult and $600 per qualifying child under 17, with joint filers receiving up to $1,200.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 6428A – Additional 2020 Recovery Rebates for Individuals
The income phase-outs matched the first round at $75,000, $112,500, and $150,000, with the same $5-per-$100 reduction. Because the payment was smaller, the complete cutoff for a single filer with no dependents fell to $87,000.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 6428A – Additional 2020 Recovery Rebates for Individuals
The turnaround was unusually fast. The IRS started distributing payments within days of the law’s signing, most direct deposits arrived by early January 2021, and paper checks and debit cards followed through the end of that month. Some people saw the money hit in 2020 and others in early 2021, but it was legally an advance credit on the 2020 tax return either way.
Round Three: 2021
The American Rescue Plan Act, signed on March 11, 2021, delivered the largest individual payment of the three rounds: $1,400 per person, plus $1,400 for every dependent.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 6428B – 2021 Recovery Rebates to Individuals Married couples received up to $2,800, plus $1,400 per dependent.
This round also changed who counted as a dependent. The first two rounds only paid for children under 17. The third round included dependents of any age, so college students, adult children, and disabled adults claimed on someone else’s return each generated a $1,400 payment.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 6428B – 2021 Recovery Rebates to Individuals
The phase-out was much steeper. It began at the familiar $75,000, $112,500, and $150,000 thresholds, but the entire credit disappeared within a narrow band above them. Single filers earning $80,000 or more received nothing, and joint filers were cut off at $160,000.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 6428B – 2021 Recovery Rebates to Individuals Many households that received the first two checks were shut out of this one.
The IRS began issuing third-round payments in March 2021 and continued sending supplemental “plus-up” payments through the rest of the year as taxpayers filed updated returns showing lower 2020 income or newly claimed dependents.
Total Amounts Across the Three Years
Adding all three rounds together, a single adult with no dependents who fell below the income limits received a combined $3,200: $1,200 in 2020, $600 at the turn of 2020 to 2021, and $1,400 in 2021. A married couple filing jointly received up to $5,600 for themselves. A married couple with two young children who qualified in every round could have received up to $11,400 in total ($3,400 + $2,400 + $5,600).
No Stimulus Checks Have Been Issued Since 2021
The three rounds of 2020 and 2021 are the only federal stimulus checks that have gone out. There has been no fourth round.
The window to claim a missed payment has also closed. Federal law generally gives taxpayers three years from a return’s due date to file it and claim a refund.4Internal Revenue Service. Time You Can Claim a Credit or Refund For missing first- or second-round payments, that meant filing a 2020 return by May 17, 2024.5National Taxpayer Advocate. Last Chance to Claim the 2020 Recovery Rebate Credit For a missing third-round payment, the deadline was April 15, 2025, tied to the 2021 return.
Both dates have passed. In December 2024, the IRS did automatically send payments to roughly one million taxpayers who had filed 2021 returns but left the Recovery Rebate Credit line blank. Outside of that automatic correction, there is no way in 2026 to recover an unclaimed stimulus payment from any of the three rounds.
How the Payments Arrived
All three rounds used the same three delivery methods: direct deposit, paper check, or prepaid debit card. Direct deposits reached bank accounts within days of an IRS processing batch. Paper checks arrived by mail weeks later. The debit cards, branded as Economic Impact Payment Cards and issued through Money Network, came in plain white envelopes with no obvious government branding, and many recipients threw them out thinking they were junk mail.6Money Network. Money Network Economic Impact Card
None of the three payments counted as taxable income. They were structured as advance refundable tax credits, so they did not reduce your refund or increase what you owed on your federal return.7U.S. Department of the Treasury. Economic Impact Payments If a payment turned out to be larger than your final income would have justified, the IRS did not take it back.