Laura Davison

Americans will start to receive stimulus payments this week, a centerpiece of the $2.2 trillion rescue package meant to provide a buffer against the coronavirus pandemic that’s shuttered much of the U.S. economy.

This is normally the time of year when the federal government is collecting taxes due, but the devastating coronavirus now has the U.S. trying to rapidly dole out hundreds of billions of dollars in aid and tax breaks to businesses large and small.

Some people counting on $1,200 stimulus checks from the government may not see the money until mid-September, according to a House Ways and Means Committee analysis.

Federal agencies are increasingly sending incorrect benefit payments to Americans, a government watchdog said as the Internal Revenue Service prepares to send more than $292 billion in direct payments to households as part of the government’s coronavirus response.

Some of the most contested pieces of the 2017 tax overhaul are being revisited as the White House and Congress begin to discuss another round of economic stimulus, including restoring the break for entertaining business clients and lifting the cap on state and local deductions.

Large retailers like Walmart Inc. and Target Corp., as well as student loan borrowers, are on a long list of potential winners from tax breaks included in a $2 trillion coronavirus relief bill approved by the Senate.

The payments are one of the central provisions of the $2 trillion stimulus package awaiting a Senate vote.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin says he wants direct payments to households to go out within three weeks of Congress passing a stimulus law, yet former IRS officials say those payments could take months to reach households.

U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden in Washington issued a stay on the tax case Friday — the second in two months — to wait for a full federal appeals court.

Tax forms and payments won’t be due to the Internal Revenue Service until July 15 this year, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a tweet, as the government looks for ways to respond to the coronavirus.