About 2.2 million more stimulus checks have gone out over the last six weeks, the government said Wednesday.
The latest batch brings the total number of payments disbursed to more than 171 million, with an aggregate value of $400 billion, according to the announcement from the IRS, Treasury Department and Bureau of the Fiscal Service. These payments started going out in March when the American Rescue Plan Act was signed into law by President Joe Biden.
image
More from Personal Finance:
Stock market volatility can be opportunity for investors
Where efforts to raise federal minimum wage stand
Covid scams cost Americans nearly $500 million
That legislation authorized payments of up to $1,400 per person, plus $1,400 per eligible dependent, for individuals and families who fall under certain income thresholds and also meet other requirements.
For the latest tranche, about 1.3 million of the payments — with a value of about $2.6 billion — were sent to eligible individuals for whom the IRS previously did not have information to issue a stimulus check but who recently filed a tax return. This batch also includes supplemental payments for individuals who earlier this year received payments based on their 2019 tax returns yet were eligible for a new or larger amount based on their 2020 tax returns, which would have been processed more recently.