Stimulus check calculator: Estimating your ‘$1,400’ total isn’t that simple. What to know

President Joe Biden made it crystal clear he wants to send Americans a “targeted” $1,400-maximum stimulus check. What’s muddier is exactly what the limitations will look like — and as a result, how much stimulus check money your specific household may get. Democrats are reportedly split on some aspects of the stimulus check formula, including income limits that could potentially bring households a much smaller stimulus check, or perhaps disqualify you from receiving any part of the third payment whatsoever.

Any changes to the stimulus check requirements that make it into the COVID-19 stimulus package will also affect the total size of your payment. For example, a new qualification could extend $1,400 to dependents and include more families with mixed-status citizenship. 

While a change to eligibility might dramatically increase a household’s stimulus total, it could exist alongs with newly lowered income limits — that is, how much money you can make a year and still qualify for a full or partial stimulus check. That uncertainty makes the calculation a little trickier to pin down. Our calculators will help estimate your total, based on what we know. We also illustrate how a shift in the stimulus formula could affect your total share. This story is frequently updated.

Stimulus calculator for a ‘targeted’ $1,400 payment

One Democratic proposal, according to The Washington Post, would drop the income limit for individuals and families to qualify for a full stimulus payment. Here’s who would get the full amount under this plan, based on your AGI:

• Single taxpayer who makes less than $50,000
• Head of household who makes less than $75,000
• Married couple filing jointly who make less than $100,000

As an individual’s or couple’s income goes up, the size of the partial payment would get smaller. Under this new proposal, dependents would qualify for a $1,400 payment, up from the $600 Biden outlined in his rescue plan.

The calculator below shows how the payment you could receive phases out at $50 for every $1,000 of income earned above the baseline, which is how the first and second checks were structured. The stimulus calculator won’t store or use your data. (Congress could also decide to phase out payments more aggressively than with the first and second checks, reducing payments $100 for every $1,000 of income earned above the baseline.)

Estimate a $1,400 check with no changes from the second payment

Let’s say Congress were to approve a third stimulus check for $1,400 using the income requirements for the first and second payments — that is, give the full amount to:

• Single taxpayer who makes less than $75,000 (based on adjusted gross income)
• Head of household who makes less than $112,500
• Married couple filing jointly who make less than $150,000

Depending on circumstances such as your eligible dependents and other qualifications, you could get more or less. This calculator uses the same basic formula as the first two checks and in this scenario, keeps the $600 amount per dependent. (See below to calculate the new proposal.) CNET’s stimulus calculator doesn’t store or use your personal details and provides estimates only.

A lower income cap means fewer people automatically qualify

When Congress dropped the second stimulus check limit to $600, it automatically disqualified many people, simply because it lowered the income limit (as a result of math). 

For example, with the first check, a single tax filer who earned under $75,000 since their previous tax return received the full $1,200. As their adjusted gross income level rose, the total they were entitled to receive fell. After $99,000, they weren’t eligible to get anything at all. 

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With the second check’s $600 maximum amount, the cutoff remained $75,000 to receive the total, but using the formula spelled out in the text of the bill, the threshold to receive any amount of stimulus money as an individual (with no children) is an AGI of $87,000. Make more than that and you’re not eligible for a check. 

If Congress sticks to the same upper income limits for a third stimulus check of $1,400, that would raise that income threshold from $600, making a single taxpayer with an AGI of $75,000 eligible to receive a full payment, with a cutoff to receive a partial payment at $103,000.

With a $1,400 payment using the proposed reduced income cap, however, the lower cap would exclude individuals and families who would have qualified using the first and second check formula. That same single taxpayer now would receive a full $1,400 payment up to an AGI of $50,000 and then phase out completely at $78,000.

Dependents would change the equation, which is why we recommend using our stimulus check calculator for a better estimate of your personal financial picture.

$600 versus $1,400 checks: Total check size compared

Going from $600 to $1,400 — either with a higher or lower cap on income — is a big leap any way you look at it. So, we wanted to highlight just what a difference the approaches could make with the handy chart below. Note that the first two columns use the same formula, which makes it easier to compare apples with apples, and the third uses the one reportedly under discussion with the lower cap but more money for dependents.

All figures could change in a final stimulus bill and represent the highest amount a household could get, but remember that just like with the first and second payments, there will be reasons some people may not get the full amount. 

We know Biden wants to expand eligibility in the third stimulus check to dependents of any age. It’s a move that would make approximately 13.5 million more adult dependents able to count toward the household total, according to The People’s Policy Project. Biden’s proposal would also appear to include all families with mixed citizenship status; that is, where at least one family member is a US citizen.

For more information on stimulus checks, here’s how to report missing stimulus money to the IRS, what to do if you’re missing any stimulus money and all the important things you need to know about stimulus checks and your taxes.