When will more 'plus-up' payments arrive? Nearly 700,000 catch-up checks this week went to people who qualify for more stimulus money

The third stimulus effort so far has put more than $379 billion into bank accounts, wallets, and, yes, cash registers as many people spend their stimmy.

Some people who already received the third stimulus payment were shocked to receive extra money in recent days.

Nearly 700,000 supplemental payments this week went to people who earlier this year received a stimulus payment based on their 2019 tax returns.

But now this group received extra money, either a new or larger payment, after their 2020 income tax returns were processed by the IRS.

Stimulus payments are based on income as well as qualifying dependents.

These “plus-up” payments in the most recent batch had a value of nearly $1.2 billion.

The third set of Economic Impact Payments offer up to $1,400 each for those who qualify.

But some people may have received a smaller amount in March or April based on their 2019 tax returns and now may see more money ahead after filing a 2020 income tax return in some cases, such as if their income dropped during the recession last year.

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About 161 million Economic Impact Payments have been issued through Wednesday since the latest stimulus program was launched in March, according to the Internal Revenue Service, the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Bureau of the Fiscal Service.

The latest batch of payments involves nearly 2 million payments, valued at nearly $3.4 billion. The sixth batch had an official payment date of April 21.

The latest batch of payments also included:

• Nearly 700,000 payments to eligible individuals for whom the IRS previously did not have information to issue an Economic Impact Payment but who recently filed a tax return.

• Another 600,000 payments went to Social Security beneficiaries and Supplemental Security Income recipients, including those with foreign addresses.

The IRS noted that the sixth batch of payments contains about 900,000 direct deposit payments and nearly 1.1 million paper check payments.

More than 95% of all Social Security beneficiaries, according to the IRS, have been paid electronically during this round of payments, compared to 70% in the first round and 72% in the second round.

The IRS said it will continue to make Economic Impact Payments on a weekly basis.

And some could continue to be surprised by extra stimulus money that just shows up.

Contact Susan Tompor via stompor@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @tompor. To subscribe, please go to freep.com/specialoffer. Read more on business and sign up for our business newsletter.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Stimulus check update: Plus-up payments sent to 700K after taxes filed