• There are no concrete plans for another stimulus check to go out to Americans during the coronavirus pandemic, but some lawmakers are pushing for it.
  • The current round of stimulus payments are based on 2019 income – or 2018 income if you haven’t yet filed taxes this year – so some people will receive less than they should based on financial need in 2020.
  • If you don’t get enough money in your stimulus check because your income or filing status changed or you had a baby this year, you’ll be able to claim the money as a refund next tax season.
  • Read more personal finance coverage.

Americans began receiving stimulus checks this month – an effort by lawmakers to offset the financial toll of the coronavirus.

Millions of people are getting one-time cash payments of up to $1,200 each ($2,400 for married couples), plus an extra $500 for kids under age 17. But some don’t think it’s enough. Nearly a third of people surveyed by Bankrate said they don’t expect their stimulus check to last them through the end of the month.

In most cases, the payment – which the IRS is calling an “economic impact payment” and the government has named a “recovery rebate” – is based on 2019 adjusted gross income (AGI). If you haven’t filed a tax return yet this year, it’s based on your 2018 income.

Unfortunately if your income dropped this year because you lost your job or had your hours reduced due to the coronavirus, it won’t be reflected in your stimulus check – or you may not get one at all if you don’t fall within the income thresholds. Likewise, if your filing status changed this year or you had a baby, you won’t qualify for immediate relief.

But this payment is a refundable tax credit that offsets your 2020 taxes. If you don't receive your full payment now, you'll get it next tax season as a refund, unless the IRS comes up with another way to get the money out sooner.

Keep in mind that stimulus checks don't lower federal benefits or tax refunds, and they're not taxed as income.

Will there be another stimulus check?

Just as the first round of payments were being deposited into bank accounts the week of April 13, two Democratic lawmakers in the House of Representatives introduced a bill for another round of relief checks, called the Emergency Money for the People Act.

The plan proposes paying US citizens who are 16 and older $2,000 a month if they earn less than $130,000 a year. The payments would last for at least six months and until unemployment falls to pre-pandemic levels, reported Business Insider's Charles Davis.

To get payments out as quickly as possible, the plan allows the money to be sent via Venmo, Zelle, or PayPal, in addition to direct deposit and paper checks. The plan would be required to pass a House vote before proceeding to the Senate and the White House to become law. The CARES Act, which set into motion the current round of stimulus payments, was introduced and signed into law in less than two weeks.

The recurring payments, as opposed to one-time payments, harken back to the universal-basic-income program touted by tech entrepreneur Andrew Yang during this 2020 presidential run. His Freedom Dividend plan proposed sending every US citizen over 18 a no-strings-attached cash payment of $1,000 a month.

On Twitter in early April, Yang urged Congress to make stimulus checks "recurring for the duration of the crisis so we can get through this."