@dkh "Do you think the February date is in anticipation of more EIP after Biden takes office?"

The excuses that IRS is offering for the February date are a cover-up for their backlog of 7 million 2019 returns not yet processed.  If they were worried about EIP #3, they would want to push out 2020 refund checks as quickly as possible before dealing with another round -- and they would want to have as much data as possible on 2020 income, if the payments are based on 2020 income.