If You Had a Baby in 2020, You Can Get $1,100 of Stimulus Money

If you’re the proud new parent of a 2020 baby, here’s some good news to get you through those sleepless nights: Your 2020 bundle of joy qualifies you for a sweet bundle of stimulus cash — $1,100 to be exact.

Why Do New Parents Get an Extra $1,100?

The first stimulus check gave parents an extra $500 for each child age 16 and younger on top of the $1,200 for most adults. The second stimulus check provided families with $600 for each adult and dependent child 16 or younger. So between the two checks, parents generally got $1,100 per kid.

Both checks were an advance on a 2020 tax credit that were processed using 2018 or 2019 returns. But the IRS won’t know about any of the babies welcomed into the world in 2020 until you file a tax return.

When you file your 2020 taxes, you can receive the $1,100 as a Rebate Recovery Credit. That just means you’ll get the extra money as a tax refund. That’s on top of the $2,000 child tax credit parents who are single filers with incomes under $200,000 or joint filers with incomes under $400,000 qualify for.

What Are the Income Limits?

For both stimulus checks, the income limits to receive the full stimulus payments were:

• $75,000 for single filers
• $112,500 for heads of households
• $150,000 for married couples filing a joint return

Checks phased out at 5 cents on the dollar for every dollar of income above these thresholds. For a more detailed explanation of how the phaseout works for child credits, check out Question 7 of our child stimulus credit FAQ.

Do I Get $1,100 if I Adopted in 2020?

You should qualify for an $1,100 stimulus payment for your family’s new addition as long as the child you adopted was 16 or younger at the end of 2020. The same rules apply: File your tax return to get the money as a refund.

What if I’m Not Married to My Child’s Other Parent?

The parent who’s claiming the child as a dependent for tax purposes receives the money.

I Didn’t Get the Money for My 2019 Baby. What Gives?

A lot of parents were frustrated to discover that their stimulus checks didn’t include the child credits — particularly in the first round, when many payments were processed using 2018 returns. If the IRS used your 2018 tax information, you wouldn’t have received a payment for a child born in 2019.

The solution is the same, though: File a tax return. If you file taxes online and provide your direct deposit information, you can expect to get that $1,100 of stimulus money within about three weeks.

Robin Hartill is a certified financial planner and a senior writer at The Penny Hoarder. She writes the Dear Penny personal finance advice column. Send your tricky money questions to [email protected]