Stimulus checks, SSDI, SSI: Could you be eligible for a third payment, plus everything else to know

With a third stimulus verify turning the nook, you are seemingly questioning when you’ll be eligible for a cost when you obtain Social Safety Incapacity Insurance coverage and Supplemental Safety Revenue advantages. Judging from what we all know now, the reply is probably going sure. The funds could be $1,400 per particular person, together with dependents of all ages, which is a vital change from the final two funds. (This is how the three checks examine.)

On Friday, the Home of Representatives intends to vote on the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 reduction invoice in a significant step towards passing it as shortly as doable. If the Home authorized, it’s going to transfer to the Senate for an additional vote. And assuming all the small print of the newest proposal keep the identical, the people who find themselves a part of the SSI and SSDI teams will stay eligible. Notably, there may very well be some total adjustments to the checks — and when you stopped or began receiving SSI or SSDI in 2019 or 2020, your state of affairs may turn out to be sophisticated this tax season. 

As we have observed with the earlier stimulus checks, any adjustments may have an effect on your third stimulus verify cost and whenever you’d obtain it. We’ll clarify what to do to declare any cash you are lacking from the primary two stimulus checks — even when you do not often file taxes — and may help reply how your third cost may arrive. This story was just lately up to date.

SSI and SSDI teams: Third stimulus verify eligibility and what to know

Whereas the small print are nonetheless being accomplished, it appears seemingly that individuals who obtain SSI and SSDI will as soon as once more routinely qualify to obtain a third stimulus verify for $1,400, as they did for the primary and second spherical of funds. 

For the primary two rounds, these people had been eligible as long as that they had a Social Safety quantity and weren’t claimed as a dependent on another person’s tax return, and as long as their family revenue did not exceed the brink set ($75,000 single, $112,500 head of family, $150,000 married). 

President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus proposal, nevertheless, expands stimulus cost eligibility for dependents of all ages, together with younger adults age 17 to 24 and older grownup dependents. It could additionally enhance the quantity allotted for these dependents to $1,400 every. Congress can also be debating how “focused” the third checks ought to be — it is doable that the revenue threshold will decrease, so some households may get more cash, whereas others may get much less or none in any respect.

These receiving Railroad Retirement and Veterans Affairs advantages additionally ought to routinely qualify for a cost, as they did within the first and second spherical. 

Now playing:
Watch this:

Stimulus check No. 3: What you need to know

2:59

Here’s when you could expect a third stimulus check to arrive

Other than the $1,400 maximum per adult and dependent, here are some other things you might like to know about how a third stimulus check is shaping up so far:

• The first checks could go out in March. When you get a new payment could depend on how you get your funds.
• The IRS and Treasury would use your previous information on file to automatically send you a check.
• The Treasury would “conduct outreach to nonfilers to inform them of how to file” for their third payment, if extra information is needed, according to this proposal (PDF).
• Any missing payment from a third check would be paid out as part of tax season 2021, a year from now. You would likely have to file a tax return to claim it, if the IRS were to follow the same pattern for missing stimulus check money as now (more below).

Possible ways of getting your third stimulus check

Most SSI and SSDI recipients didn’t receive their first payments via their Direct Express card, though this is usually what the government uses to distribute federal benefits. Instead, the payment arrived through a non-Direct Express bank account or as a paper check, if you didn’t have your bank account information on file with the IRS. 

For the second round of payments, the IRS said on its website that SSI and SSDI recipients should have gotten their stimulus check money the same way they received their first stimulus checks, possibly faster, as the IRS already has the payment system set up. People who received the first round of payments via Direct Express, they should have received the second payment the same way, the IRS said. It’s likely that the same will be true of a third check, if one is sent out (here’s a possible timeline for when the IRS could send out a third check). 

If you receive SSI but not Social Security benefits, and did not file for taxes in 2019, the IRS will automatically send your payment the same way you normally receive your SSI benefits, such as by direct deposit, Direct Express card or paper check. 

Dependents are set to get more money than ever this time

For the second stimulus check, as long as your children were 16 years old or younger, they would contribute $600 toward the final total of your household’s second stimulus check. You can use our stimulus check calculator to figure your family’s total estimate.

Under the CARES Act, qualified people with dependents age 16 or younger were eligible for up to $500 per child dependent, but not everyone actually received that extra money. 

The proposed third stimulus check would make dependents of all ages eligible for up to $1,400 that would apply to the household’s total payment, not just children under 17. That would include older adult relatives and college-age children as well.

Here’s who the IRS counts as an adult to receive their own stimulus check.

What to do if you’re missing money from the first two checks and you don’t file taxes

According to the IRS, people who receive Social Security retirement, SSDI, SSI and Railroad Retirement benefits, as well as Veterans Affairs beneficiaries, were automatically eligible for the first two payments. If you receive these federal benefits as your only form of income, you weren’t required to file a federal income tax return in 2018 or 2019. Under the CARES Act passed in March 2020, you should have received a stimulus check automatically (no need to file a simple tax return, as the IRS had originally said).

If that money didn’t arrive, it’s possible you might have had a payment garnished for child support or to pay a specific kind of creditor, but the rules changed with a second check. However, an IRS error could also be one potential culprit, or that the IRS needed more information about your eligibility. 

To receive your money now, you’ll need to claim the additional amount as part of tax season 2020, using the Recovery Rebate Credit. Even if you don’t usually file taxes, you will have to do so to get those funds. 

In some cases — like if you received a letter from the IRS confirming that your payment was sent, but you never actually got the money — you may need to contact the IRS to request a payment trace. 

How to claim stimulus check money still missing for your dependents

If you used the IRS’ Non-Filers tool from May 5 through Aug. 15 of 2020, the IRS should’ve automatically issued the catch-up payment for your dependents in October 2020. If you received your original stimulus money by direct deposit, you should’ve gotten the catch-up payment the same way. Others would’ve received it in the mail. 

If you filed for your missing dependent money by Nov. 21, 2020, the payment should have arrived by the end of 2020 in the same way you received your first payment (likely direct deposit or by mail). If you missed the deadline, your check should be included on your 2020 tax return in 2021, if you file for a Recovery Rebate Credit.

To check the status of your or your dependent’s payment, use the IRS’ online tool to track it.

If I’m an SSI or SSDI recipient but don’t currently reside in the US, what do I need to know?

If you’re a Social Security beneficiary with a foreign address whose monthly benefit is deposited in a foreign bank account, you’ll receive your stimulus payment as a check in the mail. (The IRS doesn’t usually deposit money into foreign banks.) The IRS planned to start sending the first raft of checks to those recipients at the end of July 2020. 

If you live abroad but receive your monthly benefits through a US bank, you should have received your first payment by direct deposit to that account by the end of July as well. It isn’t clear what will happen to this group with the second check, but if it wasn’t distributed by Jan. 15, it will have to be claimed as part of a tax return. Find out everything you need to know about stimulus checks, citizenship and living abroad here.

Here’s everything else we know about third stimulus checks so far, including when they could arrive.