Stimulus Check Calculator (HEALS Act)

Archived historical, non-current snapshot — dated July 9, 2026 (2026-07-09). The $1,200 and $2,400 filer amounts, $500 dependent payments, and 5% AGI phaseout described below model the unenacted HEALS Act proposal (S. 4318, introduced July 27, 2020) and are not current law. Check authoritative sources for the applicable period before relying on this estimate.

The Stimulus Check Calculator (HEALS Act) estimates a 2020 proposal for a second round of direct payments. It is historical, illustrative, and proposal-based. It does not describe a payment that is currently available, and it does not prove that a household was owed money. The calculator reproduces the policy arithmetic encoded in the calculator: a filer must have a recent tax return or federal benefit record, filing status sets the adult amount and phaseout threshold, each dependent of any age adds $500, and adjusted gross income reduces the gross amount by five percent of income above the threshold.

This page is intentionally narrower than a general stimulus calculator. It focuses on the HEALS Act proposal and does not blend it with the enacted $600 second economic impact payment, the HEROES Act proposal, or the CASH Act proposal. If you need a direct proposal comparison, use the Stimulus Check Calculator (HEALS vs HEROES). For present-day budgeting, use the budget calculator instead.

Historical note and status

The HEALS Act proposal was introduced during the summer 2020 relief negotiations. Its stimulus-check design resembled the first CARES Act adult payment amounts: $1,200 for single filers, $2,400 for married joint filers, and a phaseout beginning at familiar adjusted-gross-income thresholds. The notable dependent rule in this calculator is broader than the first CARES payment’s child-focused design: the calculator counts dependents of any age at $500 each. That makes the model useful for seeing how adult dependents could have changed a household’s proposed payment.

The proposal did not become the final second-round payment formula. The second economic impact payment that was actually enacted later used a different $600 structure. Treat this page as an archive of proposal math. It can help explain news coverage, legislative comparisons, or household what-if calculations from 2020, but it should not be used to file a tax return or request a payment.

Inputs used by this calculator

The calculator does not verify Social Security number rules, nonresident status, deceased-person restrictions, incarcerated-person rules, or payment delivery. It uses the eligibility switch only as a simple on/off input because the calculation is designed to show the proposal formula, not all administrative rules.

Formula

For single filers and heads of household, the base filer payment is $1,200. For married filing jointly, it is $2,400. Dependents are then added:

$\text{gross payment} = \text{base filer payment} + \left(\text{dependents} \times \$500\right)$

The threshold is $75,000 for single filers, $112,500 for heads of household, and $150,000 for married joint filers. The reduction is:

$\text{phaseout reduction} = \max\left(\$0,\left(\text{AGI} - \text{threshold}\right) \times 5\%\right)$

The final estimate is:

$\text{HEALS Act check} = \max\left(\$0,\text{gross payment} - \text{phaseout reduction}\right)$

If the tax-or-benefit-record switch is off, the calculator bypasses the calculatorula and reports $0.

Checking the primary result

The default form is a single filer with two dependents, $85,000 of 2019 adjusted gross income, and the tax-or-benefit-record switch turned on. A single filer starts with a $1,200 base payment. Two dependents add two times $500, or $1,000. The gross payment is therefore $2,200.

The single-filer threshold is $75,000. The entered AGI of $85,000 is $10,000 above that threshold. The calculator applies a five percent phaseout, so the reduction is five percent of $10,000, or $500. Subtracting the $500 reduction from the $2,200 gross amount gives an estimated HEALS Act check of $1,700. The result card also shows the base filer payment of $1,200, dependent payment of $1,000, phaseout threshold of $75,000, phaseout reduction of $500, and phaseout rate of 5 percent.

For a married filing jointly example, use two dependents and $160,000 of AGI. The married base is $2,400 and the dependent amount is $1,000, so the gross amount is $3,400. The threshold is $150,000, excess AGI is $10,000, and the phaseout reduction is $500. The estimated HEALS check is $2,900. Those numbers match the calculation’s examples because the reduction is applied to the total gross amount after dependents are added.

Interpreting the estimate

The most important word on this page is proposed. Legislative proposals can show serious policy intent without becoming law in the same form. The HEALS proposal amount, the later enacted second EIP amount, and the CASH Act amount are separate structures. Mixing them together creates inaccurate explanations. This calculator’s title and result are specific to HEALS: $1,200 or $2,400 adult base, $500 for each dependent of any age, and the standard five percent phaseout above the listed thresholds.

If you are reconstructing an old tax situation, look for IRS notices, bank records, and the recovery rebate credit lines on tax returns. If you are writing about policy, describe this as an estimate under the HEALS Act proposal. If you are planning future finances, use current income and expense tools rather than a 2020 proposal.

Sources

• Congress.gov, S. 4318, HEALS Act bill text — bill text associated with the 2020 HEALS proposal.
• IRS, Economic Impact Payments: what you need to know — IRS reference for first-round economic impact payment context.
• IRS, Second Economic Impact Payment FAQs — IRS reference for the later enacted second-round payment framework.