Will you get a California stimulus check? 803,000 payments going out before Dec. 17

The state of California last week began distributing 803,000 Golden State Stimulus payments worth roughly $563 million.

The breakdown for the latest distribution of $600-$1,100 payments is 800,000 paper checks mailed to qualifying residents and 3,000 direct deposits, according to Andrew LePage, a media liaison with the state's Franchise Tax Board.

The Golden State Stimulus II program has been issuing these pandemic aid payments since early September and will continue to do so until all eligible taxpayers have received their checks. Recipients with qualifying dependents will get an additional $500.

The GSII program, funded by federal and state pandemic aid, is for those who earned below $75,000 in adjusted gross income as reported on their 2020 tax returns. A similar program, Golden State Stimulus I, was created for low-income residents earning less than $35,000.

We asked LePage to update us on the state of the GSII program.

Q: When is the next round slated to go out?

A: On Nov. 29, the state began to release a batch of about 803,000 GSS II payments — mostly checks that will be mailed between 11/29/21 and 12/17/21 — valued at about $563 million.

This batch includes mailing about 800,000 GSS II checks valued at $561 million, and about 3,000 direct deposit payments valued at about $2.4 million. Direct deposits typically show up in bank accounts within a few business days, depending on the financial institution, and we advise people to allow up to three weeks to receive a paper check once it's mailed.

As noted on our GSS II website, the majority of GSS II direct deposits would have been made by mid-November, and those who didn't receive a direct deposit payment by then will likely receive a paper check.

Q: How much has been distributed to date?

A: Including the GSS II payments that began processing and mailing Nov. 29, the state has now issued or announced (i.e. the current batch going out between now and 12/17) a total of 3.5 million GSS II checks and nearly 3.8 million GSS II direct deposit payments. This total of almost 7.3 million GSS II checks and direct deposit payments is valued at more than $5.1 billion.

Q: Will there be an extension into the new year if the distribution hits any speedbumps?

A: As you can see, the mailing timeframes schedule online already calls for mailing to occur early next year (12/27/21 through 01/11/22), and some people who had applied for, but not yet received, their ITINs by Oct. 15 will have until Feb. 15 to file and still be eligible for GSS. Information about these ITIN filers is on our Help with GSS webpage.

Q: Are the GSS stimulus payments taxable by the state or IRS?

A: GSS I and II are not taxable by California. You can check with the IRS for information about whether or not they're taxable for federal purposes.

Q: Can the FTB tell us how many Californians in total qualified for the GSSII and GSSI programs?

A: It's too early to say exactly how many GSS payments will be issued. We can only give you the most current totals for how many tax returns had been awarded GSS I or GSS II as of the most recent reporting period. We don't know yet what the ultimate total will be because some returns still haven't cleared eligibility and fraud checks and we don't know how many qualified GSS-eligible ITIN tax returns will be filed by Feb. 15.

Having said all of that, we do not anticipate a large number of additional GSS I payments, and we have given a very rough estimate of 9 million total GSS II payments. Again, that's a rough estimate, and it might ultimately be closer to 8.5 million.

Q: Also, what is the total amount the state expects to distribute under GSII and GSSI?

A: We can tell you that so far the roughly 4.4 million GSS I payments issued are valued at about $2.8 billion and the nearly 7.3 million GSS II payments announced so far are valued at about $5.1 billion. As mentioned earlier, this grand total includes the GSS II payments already issued and the latest batch of checks released that will be mailed by 12/17.

Check your numbers

Here are some things to consider for anyone who hasn't gotten a payment:

Check your AGI: The tax board reminds us that the IRS and California have different adjusted gross income eligibility requirements for stimulus payments. "Therefore, there are many instances where a taxpayer might receive the federal stimulus but not the California stimulus," the FTB said.

Have you moved or changed banks? If either of these scenarios is applicable, you'll likely get a paper check. Check the ZIP code distribution list below for key dates.

Did you owe the state money (or break-even)? The state notes that if you aren't getting a refund, you probably didn't provide bank account information for a direct deposit. In this case, qualifying residents will receive their GSS II payment in the mail.

Distribution calendar

Recipients expecting a paper check can use their ZIP code to check the distribution schedule provided by the state: — 376-584: 11/15/2021 through 12/03/2021 — 585-719: 11/29/2021 through 12/17/2021 — 720-927: 12/13/2021 through 12/31/2021 — 928-999: 12/27/2021 through 1/11/2022

Here's the fine print

To qualify for the payments, residents must:

* File 2020 taxes by Oct. 15, 2021;

* Have adjusted gross income of $1 to $75,000 for the 2020 tax year;

* Be a state resident for more than half of the 2020 tax year;

* Be a state resident the date payment is issued;

* Cannot be claimed as a dependent by another taxpayer;

* A dependent is a qualifying child or qualifying relative.

As previously reported, excluded from the payments are those whose income is solely derived from benefits such as Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and State Supplementary Payment (SSP) and the Cash Assistance Program for Immigrants (CAPI), Social Security, CalWorks, unemployment, state disability insurance (SDI) and VA disability.

To get an estimate on your California stimulus payment, go to ftb.ca.gov