Monthly News: December 2020

Great news to end the year. According to IRS IR-2020-280, stimulus direct deposits may be going out as soon as December 29 and checks will begin to be mailed on December 30.

The legislation provides a direct payment of $600 for individual adults who meet the income requirements. They will receive the $600 stimulus if their 2019 adjusted gross income was $75,000 or less. People who filed with head of household status can earn up to $112,500 and a married couple can make up to $150,000.

Eligible families would receive an additional $600 for each child that qualifies.

In this stimulus package, payments won’t be denied to citizens who are married to someone without a social security number. This will allow some spouses of undocumented immigrants to claim the stimulus benefit.

Millions of Americans who are still unemployed will benefit from the bill that was passed. Congress extended several programs to help people who are out of work. The bill will provide benefits for 11 weeks. However, the new benefit is $300 per week, which is half of the benefit the stimulus bill in the spring.

The bill also extends Pandemic Unemployment Assistance which is a program for freelancers and independent contractors. The benefit will also be for 11 weeks but will be limited to $100 a week.

The new bill sets aside $285 billion for additional loans to small businesses under the Paycheck Protection Plan. However, this version has stricter terms than the original program. The maximum loan amount is limited to $2 million and is only available to borrowers with fewer than 300 employees that had at least a 25 percent decrease in sales from a year earlier during at least one quarter. The bill also includes $12 billion specifically designated for minority-owned businesses. Publicly traded companies will not be eligible under this legislation.