How did eligibility rules for dependents differ between Biden's 2021 checks and Trump's 2020 stimulus payments?

1. How dependents were treated across the three pandemic payments

The three pandemic-era payments were not identical: the first (spring 2020) provided up to $1,200 per eligible adult and $500 per qualifying child; the second (Dec. 2020) was up to $600 per person; and the third (March 2021) gave up to $1,400 per eligible individual and added $1,400 for qualifying dependents when married couples filed jointly — but the key policy shift under the American Rescue Plan was the broader definition of dependents that could be counted for the third payment ^{[2] [3]}.

2. Biden’s 2021 change: adult dependents and students included

The American Rescue Plan’s stimulus rules for the 2021 payment explicitly widened eligibility to include certain adult dependents and students, a group that had been excluded from the first two rounds; one analysis cited in contemporaneous coverage estimated that including adult dependents and students over age 16 added roughly 13.5 million people who had not been eligible under the earlier bills ^[1].

3. Practical effects: more households received money for older dependents

Because the Biden-era third payment counted some adult dependents (for example, college students and other qualifying adult dependents) that earlier packages did not, more families — including those supporting older children or relatives who file as dependents — received extra funds. Coverage notes the explicit contrast: the first two stimulus bills did not include those adult dependents while the ARP did ^[1].

4. Numbers and per-person treatment: how amounts compared

Reporting rounds up the numeric differences: the first payment’s child supplement was $500 per qualifying child; the second payment reduced that to $600 per person; and the third payment was up to $1,400 per eligible individual with married filers receiving an additional $1,400 for each qualifying dependent under the rules at that time. Those dollar figures illustrate both the changing per-person amounts and the significance of expanding who counted as a dependent in 2021 ^{[2] [3]}.

5. Why this distinction mattered politically and administratively

Expanding dependent eligibility in 2021 had immediate political impact — it targeted relief to households supporting older dependents and students — and administrative implications because the IRS and Treasury had to apply eligibility rules differently than in prior rounds. Contemporary analyses highlighted that the inclusion of adult dependents was a notable policy change distinguishing the Biden plan from earlier pandemic legislation ^[1].

6. Limits of available reporting and what’s not covered

Available sources summarize the changes in dependent eligibility and the headline dollar amounts, but current reporting in this set does not provide a full legal-text comparison of exact dependent-definition language across each statute, nor does it list every qualifying-status scenario (for example, precisely which adult relatives or student categories were covered) — those specifics are not found in the current reporting (not found in current reporting).

7. Competing views and how reporters framed them

Contemporaneous articles presented the expansion as a deliberate choice to reach families left out by earlier rounds and cited analysts quantifying that effect ^[1]. Other coverage focused on headline dollar totals and deadlines for claiming payments (for example, the April 15, 2025 deadline to claim the third recovery rebate credit), underscoring that debates over who “deserved” stimulus sometimes framed eligibility changes as either correcting gaps or as broader fiscal generosity, depending on the outlet ^{[3] [4]}.

8. Bottom line for readers

If you’re comparing “Biden’s 2021 checks” to the “2020 checks,” the central difference in dependent treatment is that the 2021 American Rescue Plan explicitly expanded dependent eligibility to include certain adult dependents and students — adding millions to the pool of people for whom households could claim payments — whereas earlier 2020 rounds did not include those adult dependents and treated child-dependent supplements differently ^{[1] [2]}.