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Are you receiving Social Security retirement or disability benefits (SSDI), Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Railroad Retirement benefits, or VA benefits? If you are and you are generally not required to file a tax return, and you have children, you need to be aware of a new deadline.
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) previously announced that folks in those groups who do not file a tax return will automatically receive Economic Impact Payments (that’s the official name, although most taxpayers refer to them as stimulus checks). Those folks do not need to do anything further to receive their $1,200 stimulus check if they do not have children.
Now, the IRS has announced that folks in these groups who have children and didn’t file a tax return in 2018 or 2019 have until Wednesday, April 22, 2020, to update information to include qualifying children. Those groups include people who receive Social Security retirement or disability benefits (SSDI), Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Railroad Retirement benefits, or VA benefits.
The $1,200 payments will be issued soon. To add the $500 per eligible child amount to these payments, the IRS needs your dependent information. If you don’t provide your information by the deadline, you will have to wait to receive your $500 for each qualifying child. That means your initial payment will be $1,200 and, by law, your $500 per eligible child amount will be paid once you file for the tax year 2020.
“We want to ‘Plus $500’ these recipients with children so they can get their maximum Economic Impact Payment of $1,200 plus $500 for each eligible child as quickly as possible,” said IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig. “They’ll get $1,200 automatically, but they need to act quickly and register at IRS.gov to get the extra $500 per child added to their payment. These groups don’t normally have a return filing obligation and may not realize they qualify for a larger payment. We’re asking people and organizations throughout the country to share this information widely and help the IRS with the Plus $500 Push.”
So, what do you need to do? If you receive Social Security retirement or disability benefits (SSDI), Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Railroad Retirement benefits, or VA benefits and you have children, make a quick trip to a special non-filer tool on IRS.gov by noon Eastern time, Wednesday, April 22, 2020, to help put all of your eligible Economic Income Payment (stimulus check) into a single payment.
Payments will go out in waves. If you are a Social Security Administration (SSA) or RRB beneficiary, you need to register with the IRS by April 22, to receive the additional $500 per eligible child amount with your $1,200 payment. You will not be eligible to use the Non-Filer tool to add eligible children once your $1,200 payment has been issued.
SSI and VA beneficiaries have additional time beyond April 22, 2020, to add children since those $1,200 automatic payments will be made at a later date:
- SSI recipients will receive their automatic payments in early May; and
- the VA payment schedule for beneficiaries who receive Compensation and Pension (C&P) benefit payments is still being determined.
SSI and VA beneficiaries are urged to use the Non-Filer tool as soon as possible. Once your $1,200 payment has been issued, you will not be eligible to use the Non-Filer tool to add eligible children: you will have to wait until you file for the tax year 2020 to receive the additional payment for your children.
Checks will be paid out in the same manner as your benefits. For example, if you usually get your benefits by direct deposit, you will receive your stimulus check by direct deposit, but if you normally receive your benefits by Direct Express, you will receive your stimulus check by Direct Express.
Remember that the IRS will be sending those checks, not the VA or the SSA. Checks are NOT taxable and will not affect your 2020 refund. Checks will also not affect your benefits.
To find out more information about your payment, you can use the Get My Payment Tool to track the status of your check.
If you still have questions, check out these articles (All You Wanted To Know About Those Tax Stimulus Checks But Were Afraid To Ask and Answers To Your Most Commonly Asked Questions About Those Tax Stimulus Checks). They will answer a lot of those questions.
Things are happening at a rapid-fire pace these days. As tax updates become available, we’ll keep you updated. Keep checking back for details.
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