Residents begin to receive $600 COVID relief payment

Good news to start out the new year. We've had a number of residents reach out to confirm that they've started to get their $600 COVID relief payments in their bank accounts.

The official payment date is January 4, 2021, however, according to the IRS, the initial direct deposit payments were expected to begin arriving on Dec. 29 and would continue to be distributed into next week.

U.S. citizens and resident aliens who are not eligible to be claimed as a dependent on someone else’s income tax return are eligible for this payment.

For those who are expecting a paper check or a debit card, those started to mailed on Wednesday, Dec 30.

According to the IRS, anyone who received the first round of payments earlier this year but doesn’t receive a payment via direct deposit will generally receive a check or, in some instances, a debit card. For this, the payments will conclude in January.

The second round of payments is generally $600 for singles and $1,200 for married couples filing a joint return. Those with qualifying children will also receive $600 for each qualifying child.

Dependents who are 17 and older are not eligible for the child payment.

You can check to see the status of your payment later this week at IRS.gov/GetMyPayment. This is available in both English and Spanish. You can also check out more key information at IRS.gov/eip.

Stay with News Channel 3 for continuing updates.