How and when you will get the $1,200 COVID-19 payment from the federal government.

PORTLAND, Ore. — The Department of Treasury will begin sending out $1,200 COVID-19 payments on April 13.

According to U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Portland, the payments will be through direct deposit to your bank account with the information submitted with your last tax return.

If the IRS doesn’t’ have your information, Blumenauer said the best way to receive the benefit would be to file your 2019 taxes.

However, if you receive Social Security benefits the check will come automatically to you.

According to Blumenauer, this is an estimated timeline from the IRS on the COVID-19 payment checks:

The IRS will make payments to people through direct deposit in mid-April (likely, the week of April 13th). In order to be in the first round the IRS has to have direct deposit information from either your 2019 or 2018 tax filing.

About 3 weeks after those deposits are made (the week of May 4th), the IRS will begin issuing paper checks to individuals.

The paper checks will be issued at a rate of about 5 million per week, which could take up to 20 weeks to get all the checks out.

The checks will be issued in reverse “adjusted gross income” order—starting with people with the lowest income first.

The IRS is encouraging taxpayers to file their 2019 returns to the maximum extent possible. As taxpayers file their 2019 returns electronically, the IRS will post updated tax information weekly to its files and then send this information to another agency that will issue weekly payments.

The IRS expects to create a portal by the end of April/early May that will allow taxpayers, once they have been authenticated, to: (1) find out the status of their rebate payment and (2) update direct deposit information.

For SSA beneficiaries who do not file returns, Treasury and the IRS announced on the evening of April 1st that these beneficiaries will not need to file a “simple tax return” to receive their rebate. Recipients will receive their rebate just as they would their Social Security benefits.

For other taxpayers who do not file returns, the IRS expects to release the “simple tax return” soon. The IRS expects it will contain only a few questions, including name, Social Security Numbers, dependents, and deposit information. There also will be other IRS guidance accompanying this simple tax return.