Thousands Of California Residents To Receive $1,200 Stimulus Payments

Thousands of Californians are set to receive relief payments worth up to $1,200 as part of the Golden State I and Golden State II stimulus programs, the state’s franchise tax board (FTB) has said.

California is now sending out 22,400 Golden State Stimulus I checks and 50,400 Golden State II checks between $1,100 and $1,200, the FTB told The Sun. Residents who opted to receive the checks through direct deposit should expect to receive the payment within a few days. Californians who opted to receive the money through paper checks may need to wait up to three weeks.

Under the Golden State Stimulus I program, a person must have filed their 2020 taxes and be either a CalEITC recipient or an ITIN filer making under $75,000.

To be eligible for the Golden State Stimulus II payments, a Californian must be earning less than $75,000 per year and have filed 2020 taxes before Oct. 15, 2021.

In both programs, the recipient must have been a resident of California for more than half of the 2020 tax year and be a resident on the date the payment is issued. A taxpayer who is claimed as a dependent by another taxpayer will not be eligible to receive the payment.

People who qualify for the Golden State Stimulus I payments will receive a one-time check amounting to either $600 or $1,200. Residents who are eligible to receive stimulus checks under the Golden State Stimulus II program may receive between $500 and $1,100 in relief payments.

The state of California is expected to issue another batch of stimulus checks in the middle or latter half of June. The exact number of checks to be issued is still unclear, but the FTB said the next batch will be smaller, adding that next month’s payments would mainly be reissuances.

“Most reissuances of GSS payments stem from address changes (e.g. taxpayers who moved without informing FTB of their new address), and issues involving a recipient’s name (e.g. the spelling of the name on the GSS check wasn’t a perfect match or perhaps a spouse died since the tax return was filed,” the agency said.

The Federal Reserve's stimulus policies have been credited with helping the US economy recover from the Covid-19 pandemic Photo: AFP / Daniel SLIM