“Plus-Up” Payments
Known as ‘plus-up’ payments, the IRS sends these to individuals who have already received their thirst stimulus check. In fact, as many as 3 million taxpayers have received these supplemental payments!
The reason behind this is because your stimulus payments are based on your 2019 or your 2020 tax return. They’ll be based on your 2019 return if you haven’t yet filed your 2020 tax return- plus, these also need to be processed by the IRS, so even if you have sent them but the IRS is also ready to send your payment, they’ll base it off your 2019 returns.
Things run differently if your 2020 return is not only filled but also processed. That’s when your third stimulus will be based on that return.
So, what happens if your 2020 return is not filled and/or processed but the IRS is ready to send your stimulus payment? If you fill it in and they process it after the payment is sent but before August 16, 2021, that’s when you’ll get the plus-up payment. This payment will consist of the difference between what your payment should have been on your 2020 return and the payment that was actually sent based on your 2019 data.
This is why you should file your taxes sooner rather than later, especially if you’re looking forward to that plus-up payment.
