JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-FORT SAM HOUSTON, Texas –
The Internal Revenue Service has issued a special alert for those receiving Social Security retirement, survivor or disability benefits (SSDI), Railroad Retirement benefits, Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Veterans Affairs benefits who didn’t file a tax return in the last two years.
No action is needed by these groups to receive their $1,200 Economic Impact Payments. However, in order to add the $500 per eligible child amount to the payments, the IRS needs the dependent information before the payments are issued. Otherwise, the additional $500 per eligible child amount will be paid in association with a return filed for the tax year 2020.
For people in these groups who have a qualifying child and didn’t file a 2018 or 2019 tax return, they have a limited window to register to have $500 per eligible child added automatically to their soon-to-be-received $1,200 Economic Impact Payment.
The IRS has created a special non-filer tool at https://www.irs.gov/coronavirus/non-filers-enter-payment-info-here. Information must be entered using the website tool by 11 a.m. April 22.
“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.”
The full IRS announcement with all details may be found at https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/ssa-rrb-recipients-with-eligible-children-need-to-act-by-wednesday-to-quickly-add-money-to-their-automatic-economic-impact-payment-irs-asks-for-help-in-the-plus-500-push.
As a reminder, military members and family members should be on the lookout for scams related to the Economic Impact Payments. There is no fee required to receive these payments.