ANNAPOLIS, Md. — The majority of stimulus payments from Maryland's new RELIEF Act should be processed by Friday February 19, according to the state's comptroller.
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan signed the bipartisan RELIEF Act of 2021 Monday, February 15, to provide a $1 billion package of emergency coronavirus relief to families and small businesses.
The legislation repeals all state and local taxes on unemployment benefits and includes immediate stimulus payments of $500 for families and $300 for individuals who filed for the Earned Income Tax Credit.
Those payments started going out to those who qualify on Tuesday, February 16, according to Maryland's state comptroller Peter Franchot.
Franchot's office says 98% of RELIEF Act stimulus payments to individuals will be processed by Friday, February 19. In total 266,985 electronic payments to individuals with a value of $113.6 million, as well as 148,972 paper checks with a value of $61.7 million, are being processed.
Marylanders qualify for these payments if they annually earn:
● $50,954 ($56,844 married filing jointly) with three or more qualifying children
● $47,440 ($53,330 married filing jointly) with two qualifying children
● $41,756 ($47,646 married filing jointly) with one qualifying child
● $15,820 ($21,710 married filing jointly) with no qualifying children
In total, the payments provide $178 million in relief to 400,000 Marylanders.
“While the amount of these payments is not nearly as much as I urged the Governor to include and leaves out tens of thousands of Marylanders, I commend the General Assembly for improving the bill and pledging to adopt separate legislation that will make eligible for stimulus funds those who use an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number, or ITIN, to file taxes,” Franchot said in a release.
Taxpayers can go to www.MarylandTaxes.gov/ReliefAct to see if they qualify and check the status of their payments. They can also call 1-833-345-0787 or email ReliefAct@marylandtaxes.gov for more assistance. Those who qualify for a RELIEF Act stimulus payment will be automatically processed either via direct deposit or paper checks unless their address on file is not verifiable with the U.S. Postal Service.