Stimulus Check Calculator

Welcome to the stimulus payment calculator, where we answer your question, "Who is eligible for the stimulus, and how much stimulus will I get?" The $2 trillion coronavirus stimulus package, announced on 25th March, is the biggest one in history. This pandemic has changed our private lives (and will continue to do so), and many of us have lost our source of income for who knows how long.

The new bill, also referred to as the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (or CARES Act for short), was voted through by the Senate by a unanimous 96-0 and signed by the President on Friday 27th March, is trying to address this problem.

While we struggle to put enough food on the table and sufficient toilet paper in the bathroom, let's find out who is eligible for the stimulus and what the payout will be for individual Americans. The quarantine has affected our budgeting, and what better way to help us manage that than through some of our tools like our quarantine food calculator and our toilet paper calculator, to name a few?

Note that this stimulus check calculator does not address every possible exceptional situation mentioned in the bill. For more information, we encourage you to see our FAQ section or read the Act itself to find any additional information on the coronavirus relief package.

With the virus raging around the world and more and more Americans testing positive for it every day, the economy is suffering. People prefer not to risk being infected and stay home. Employers, if possible, have suggested home offices and have closed their workplaces for the time being. Some states (e.g., California) are in complete shutdown and forbid work as we know it. So what about those whose work cannot be done remotely? And what about people working in places such as schools, restaurants, or bars, which are being closed down? Where are they supposed to find the money to survive this difficult time?

That's precisely the problem the $2 trillion coronavirus stimulus package is here to address. It is a one-time (which may be repeated later on, if needed) social fund for all those struggling and worrying about the near future. To quote the Congress itself:

"The bill also provides funding for $1,200 tax rebates to individuals, with additional $500 payments per qualifying child. The rebate begins phasing out when incomes exceed $75,000 (or $150,000 for joint filers)."

All working Americans (that is, those that filed their 2019 or 2018 tax return) or those on Social Security will be considered in the CARES Act. Admittedly, not everyone will get financial support since the amount given depends heavily on your yearly income.

The authorities will get all the information they need to send the money from your tax return. This means that you don't need to fill out any documents or stand in a long queue. Once calculated, the sum will be transferred to you using the information provided in your tax return. If there is no information for a direct transfer, they will mail you a coronavirus stimulus check. As you might have expected, that option is bound to take longer.

Let's list the main factors on which the $2 trillion coronavirus stimulus package will work:

1. The more you earn, the less you get. Every American that earns $75,000 a year or less is eligible to receive $1,200. If you earn more than that, subtract $5 from that number for every additional $100 of income, up to a salary of $99,000 a year.

2. There's additional money for every child. A married couple or a single parent can obtain an extra $500 for every child under 17.

3. The support for married couples is calculated together. This means that a couple is eligible to receive $2,400 if their total income doesn't exceed twice the number mentioned for a single person, i.e., it is not higher than $150,000. Again, their checks will be reduced on a sliding scale if they earn between $150,000 and $198,000. Also, we still add the $500 for every child.

4. In special cases, such as being a single parent, the rules are less strict. If you qualify as the "head of household," you are eligible for $1,200 if you earn up to $112,500. Similarly to the first point, the more you exceed that number, the less you can get, but this time the cap is $136,500.

Let's say that you're a married couple with two young kids. You earn $90,000 a year, and your partner earns $70,000. How much stimulus will you get from the CARES Act? Let's look into the calculations together with the stimulus check calculator.

First, let us compute your combined income.

income = $90,000 + $70,000 = $160,000

This is the number we put into the above stimulus payment calculator. We see that it is more than the $150,000 mentioned above, so you won't get the full $2,400. But how much will it be? Let's begin by computing how much we exceed the cap by:

excess = income - cap = $160,000 - $150,000 = $10,000

The rule is that from the base sum of $2,400, we subtract $5 for every $100 in the excess. This means that we have to subtract:

difference = (excess / $100) × $5 = ($10,000 / $100) × $5 = $500,

and so you are eligible for:

support = base - difference = $2,400 - $500 = $1,900.

But wait, that's not all! We forgot about the kids! You should never forget the kids! Input the number of children into the coronavirus relief package calculator to obtain:

total_support = support + no_of_kids × $500 = $1,900 + 2 × $500 = $2,900.

And there we have it - you'll get a $2,900 coronavirus stimulus check. Hopefully, it will get you through this tough time.