You Could Get a “Plus-Up” Stimulus Payment if You File Your Taxes This Year What’s a plus-up payment? The short answer is, it’s a payment to taxpayers who already received their third stimulus checks, but who qualify for additional benefits. As part of President Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan, the IRS has been sending out a third round of stimulus checks since early March. So far, roughly 160 million payments have been made, at a cost of around $380 billion. As the last of the third stimulus checks are sent out, there is already intense debate over the efficacy of sending a fourth. In general, Democrats support the idea, particularly progressives; a group of House Democrats has endorsed a proposal for a monthly payment of $2000 until the end of the pandemic. By contrast, Republicans, who contest the Senate, have tended to criticize such proposals as grandiose, expensive, and not tailored to suit any particular need.