Stimulus Check Calculator (HEALS vs HEROES)

Archived historical, non-current snapshot — dated July 9, 2026 (2026-07-09). The CAAF, HEALS, and HEROES base amounts, dependent rules, and shared phaseout described below model unenacted 2020 proposals (S. 4318 and H.R. 6800) and are not current law. Check authoritative sources for the applicable period before relying on this estimate.

The Stimulus Check Calculator (HEALS vs HEROES) compares three 2020 direct-payment proposals using the same arithmetic the calculator applies. It is historical and illustrative. It does not show current law, and it does not determine whether a household received or could receive a payment. The calculator compares CAAF, HEALS, and HEROES by using the same filing status, child dependent count, adult dependent count, and adjusted gross income. The result card then highlights whichever proposal produces the largest estimate after the shared income phaseout.

This page must be read as a comparison, not as a blended stimulus rule. The HEALS Act line uses a $1,200 base for single or head-of-household filers, a $2,400 base for married joint filers, and $500 for each dependent. The HEROES Act line uses the same adult base but a much larger $1,200 dependent amount, capped at three total dependents. The CAAF Act line uses a $1,000 base for single or head-of-household filers, a $2,000 married base, and $1,000 per dependent with no cap in this model. All three then share the same five percent phaseout above the filing-status threshold.

Historical note and status

The 2020 relief debate produced several competing direct-payment designs before the later enacted second economic impact payment. HEALS, HEROES, and CAAF were not interchangeable. They differed in adult base amounts, dependent payments, and dependent caps. That is why this calculator separates children under 17 from adult dependents at input time, then adds them together when applying each proposal’s dependent rule. It also uses one shared phaseout so the dependent formulas remain the focus.

The calculator is not a legal record of what was paid. It is a what-if model for understanding proposals. For the HEALS-only version, use the Stimulus Check Calculator (HEALS Act). For current household planning unrelated to historical legislation, use the budget calculator or savings goal calculator.

Inputs used by this calculator

The calculator does not judge whether any individual dependent would have satisfied the exact legal definition in a proposal. It follows the calculation: child dependents plus adult dependents equals total dependents, and then each proposal’s dependent amount is applied.

Formula

The shared phaseout thresholds are $75,000 for single filers, $112,500 for heads of household, and $150,000 for married filing jointly.

$\text{total dependents} = \text{children under 17} + \text{adult dependents}$

The gross proposal amounts are:

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

$\text{gross HEROES} = \text{HEROES base} + \left(\min\left(\text{total dependents},3\right) \times \$1{,}200\right)$

$\text{gross CAAF} = \text{CAAF base} + \left(\text{total dependents} \times \$1{,}000\right)$

Each proposal then uses the same phaseout function:

$\text{proposal payment} = \max\left(\$0,\text{gross proposal amount} - \left(\max\left(\$0,\text{AGI} - \text{threshold}\right) \times 5\%\right)\right)$

The highlighted primary result is whichever of the three proposal payments is largest.

Checking the primary result

The default form uses married filing jointly, two dependents under 17, one adult dependent, $155,000 of 2019 adjusted gross income, and the filing-or-benefit-record switch turned on. Total dependents are two plus one, or three. The married phaseout threshold is $150,000. Excess AGI is $5,000, and five percent of that excess is $250. The same $250 reduction is applied to all three proposal lines.

For CAAF, the married base is $2,000. Three dependents add three times $1,000, or $3,000. Gross CAAF is $5,000, and after the $250 phaseout, the estimate is $4,750.

For HEALS, the married base is $2,400. Three dependents add three times $500, or $1,500. Gross HEALS is $3,900, and after the $250 phaseout, the estimate is $3,650.

For HEROES, the married base is $2,400. The dependent amount is $1,200 per dependent, capped at three dependents. Because the household has exactly three total dependents, the dependent amount is three times $1,200, or $3,600. Gross HEROES is $6,000, and after the $250 phaseout, the estimate is $5,750. The calculator highlights HEROES as the largest proposal for this default household.

Now consider why the ranking can change. A single filer with four total dependents and $90,000 of AGI has a $750 phaseout because income is $15,000 above the $75,000 single threshold. HEALS gross is $1,200 plus $2,000, or $3,200, so HEALS becomes $2,450. HEROES gross is $1,200 plus only three capped dependents at $1,200, or $4,800, so HEROES becomes $4,050. CAAF gross is $1,000 plus four times $1,000, or $5,000, so CAAF becomes $4,250. In that case, CAAF is larger because it has no dependent cap in this model.

How to describe the comparison accurately

Use separate names when writing about the output. HEALS is not HEROES with a different title; it is the smaller dependent-payment line in this calculator. HEROES is not simply “the biggest” for every household; the cap can matter when there are more than three dependents. CAAF has a lower adult base but can overtake the others for larger dependent counts. All three estimates are reduced by the same dollar phaseout in this model, so differences in the final result come from the gross formula unless the payment floors at zero.

This calculator intentionally omits administrative details such as Social Security number rules, nonresident restrictions, payment delivery, tax-return reconciliation, and final legislative negotiations. Those details matter for enacted payments, but they are outside this proposal-comparison model. Treat the result as a structured historical what-if calculation.

Sources

• Congress.gov, S. 4318, HEALS Act bill text — Senate HEALS proposal text.
• Congress.gov, H.R. 6800, HEROES Act bill text — House-passed HEROES Act text.
• Congress.gov, S. 4381, Coronavirus Assistance for American Families Act bill text — CAAF proposal text.
• IRS, Second Economic Impact Payment FAQs — IRS context for the later enacted second-round payment.