COVID-19, General

Supplemental Security Income Recipients Will Receive Automatic COVID-19 Economic Impact Payments

April 15, 2020 • By

Reading Time: 2 Minutes

Last Updated: February 21, 2023

The Treasury Department announced that Supplemental Security Income (SSI) recipients will receive automatic Economic Impact Payments directly from the Treasury Department.  Treasury anticipates these automatic payments to go out no later than early May.

SSI recipients with no qualifying children do not need to take any action in order to receive their $1,200 economic impact payment. The payments will be automatic.

SSI recipients who have qualifying children under age 17, however, should not wait for their automatic $1,200 individual payment. They should now go to the IRS’s webpage and visit the Non-Filers: Enter Your Payment Info section to provide their information. By taking proactive steps to enter information on the IRS website about them and their qualifying children, they will also receive the $500 per dependent child payment in addition to their $1,200 individual payment. If SSI beneficiaries in this group do not provide their information to the IRS soon, they will have to wait until later to receive their $500 per qualifying child.

This is great news for SSI recipients, and I want to remind recipients with qualifying children to go to IRS.gov soon so that you will receive the full amount of the Economic Impact Payments you and your family are eligible for. I also want to thank the dedicated employees of the Treasury Department, Social Security, and the Internal Revenue Service for making this happen and working non-stop on this issue.

SSI Recipients with Dependent Children Should Still Go To IRS.gov to Provide Their Information

Social Security retirement, survivors, and disability insurance beneficiaries (who don’t normally file taxes) will also qualify for automatic payments of $1,200 from Treasury. These payments are anticipated to start arriving around the end of April.

The Treasury Department, not Social Security, will make these automatic payments to beneficiaries. Recipients will generally receive the automatic payments by direct deposit, Direct Express debit card, or by paper check, just as they would normally receive their SSI or Social Security benefits.

For those SSI and Social Security retirement, survivors, and disability insurance beneficiaries, with dependent children, who use Direct Express debit cards, additional information will be available soon regarding the steps to take when claiming children under 17, on the IRS website.

Please note that the agency will not consider Economic Impact Payments as income for SSI recipients, and the payments are excluded from resources for 12 months.

For more information about Social Security retirement, survivors, and disability insurance beneficiaries, please see our most recent blog.

The eligibility requirements and other information about the Economic Impact Payments can be found on the IRS website. In addition, please continue to visit the IRS for the latest information.

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About the Author

Andrew Saul, Commissioner, Social Security Administration

Commissioner of Social Security Administration (June 17, 2019 - July 9, 2021)

Comments

  1. Felipe

    Still no answer to this if I get SSI and my wife dose not work do we have to get on and add her like a dependabt

    • Michelle R.

      She isn’t your dependent, she is your spouse, and she is a non-filer due to having no income. She should go and complete it as herself, and not include you. You will be fine because they are already planning to send yours. When they do not have her on record as either a tax filer or benefit recipient, they would not automatically send you $1200 for her because they have no idea whether you are married or not. You may get separate checks, not a single payment of $2400.

    • Becca

      No! Don’t add her as a dependent or she isn’t eligible for money. If she has no income, she can go to the IRS website and put her information in as a non filer and qualify as long as she has a SSN and no one else can claim her as a dependent, then she submits her direct deposit information. Otherwise she needs to give her current home address and they will mail a paper check

  2. Michelle R.

    You shouldn’t have to pay anything at TurboTax for a simple return with only SSA income. If they charged you $160 something is horribly wrong and you should try to get your money back. Also, don’t go to another tax service if all you have is SSA income. You will get your stimulus money without filing a return. A rejected return is not considered “filed” by the IRS, but I’m trying to understand how you would be due a “tax refund” when you are on SSA – unless you have taxes withheld from your benefits. Are you calling the economic stimulus your tax refund?

  3. Jeffrey R.

    Once again became disabled in 2017, and was the last time filled taxes, also have a 7 year old Daughter, what will happen

    • Michelle R.

      You will need to use the Non-filers portal to get the $500 for her. They will know by your SSN that you are already eligible for $1200 as a disability recipient, but they will not know about your dependent. Under the non-filers instructions it says: Special note: People in these groups who have qualifying children under age 17 can use this application to claim the $500 payment per child.

    • Becca

      If you filed taxes in 2017, and then was approved for disability, you will receive your stimulus payment the same way you receive your monthly payment. If you go to the IRS website, you can tell them you have a dependent daughter, and as long as she is under 17 they will add the extra $500 payment.

  4. Jeffrey R.

    What if you became disabled in 2017, and that was the last year you file, and you filled out the IRS none fillers portal. What happens next

    • Michelle R.

      If you are receiving Disability Benefits from the SSA via direct deposit, it should not matter that you used the non-filers portal. I’m quite sure they are seeing a number of these cases because you were originally told to file that. They likely have set up a computerized method of identifying you by SSN as being on two lists of recipients, SSA and non-filer, and removing you from the non-filer list because you will get paid via your SSA records. This is all part of the time consuming procedure to identify recipients, which was only complicated with the rule and procedure changes mid-stream. The U.S. Treasury made the announcement on April 1st that SSA recipients did not have to file a tax return. https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sm967?fbclid=IwAR0NMBxQJWRkx-5_rg6Ruxr1hzy7dhLYcJhRpoSXsPnNVYz3rDhcx7DGsiI

    • V.V.

      Hi Jeffrey, thank you for your question. Social Security retirement, survivors, or disability beneficiaries and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) recipients who do not have qualifying children under age 17 do not need to take any action with the IRS. You will automatically receive your $1,200 economic impact payment directly from the IRS. You should receive the automatic payments by direct deposit, Direct Express debit card, or by paper check, just as you would normally receive your Social Security benefits.

      • Brenda

        What about SSDI recipients w/o dependents who were (did) required to file due to the Premium Tax Credit received in 2019?
        In my case, SSDI is sole income I filed form 1040 online (H&R Block), owed and paid the IRS $1, but they do not have any of my banking information because no refund was due.
        Make sense?
        In this case should expect the IRS to obtain banking information for direct deposit from the SSA?

        I went to the ‘Get My Payment’ link to check the status of the stimulation check, and received a response that my banking information was; however when I try to enter it the response says: Service Not Available At This Time

        • V.V.

          Hi Brenda. Social Security retirement, survivors, or disability beneficiaries and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) recipients who do not have qualifying children under age 17 do not need to take any action with the IRS. You will automatically receive your $1,200 economic impact payment directly from the IRS. You should receive the automatic payments by direct deposit, Direct Express debit card, or by paper check, just as you would normally receive your Social Security benefits. Treasury expects automatic payments for Social Security beneficiaries no later than the end of April and automatic payments for SSI recipients no later than early May.

  5. T. S.

    Sounds like the stress we all share is here sharing… My comment is For President Trump: In my opinion, He’s done nothing but good things for America. Straight-forward and working hard to undo the crazy things that have put this country in a depth of debt as well as made jobs return that have been Gone Many years. I don’t know why the bandwagon of hate seems like the side to be on, because America originally wasn’t like that nor founded by people who think this way. It’s the power that the President’s have enjoyed, wanted and prospered on, not America, and the “regular people”. A lot of hard working American’s struggle and weren’t able to get anywhere. That’s all changing but if you vote the same power players in , then my Children and Grandchildren will live paycheck to paycheck as well. I don’t want that and President Trump doesn’t want that kind of America either. The Dem’s are plain jealous and hateful, worrying for their own pocket’s and not The Working class Americans. Quit being fooled. All President Trump needs is some Respect like all President’s have been given, America is Hateful mostly because America has become The People Poor, not the
    thankful folks that aren’t suffering like other’s in so many countries. There’s a Host of Christian’s praying night and day, Mr. Trump is Not On His Own! Amen? Thanks for reading.

    • Stevil

      LMAO…..quit drinking the Orange Kool-aid.

      • Terri

        If Jim Jones offered them a round of free drinks in a Jonestown bar. They’d accept

  6. Jeanie M.

    I tried to file our taxes on turbo tax like it said to do. Even though I get SSA. Just to find out it was rejected…I need to apply for a personal number and then try again. That just cost us a _160.00 that I didn’t have. So my question is what now…will we get the check with our refund status as rejected or does it have to be refiled and accepted before I can receive the check? Or do I need to go have h&r block redo it and charge me more money?

    • Michelle R.

      Why would TurboTax charge you $160 to do your tax return? Do you normally file a return? People who only have tax exempt SSA, no investment or rental income, no self-employment, and no itemized deductions can file for free. Something is wrong with that charge. Anyway, if a return is rejected by the IRS, then it is not considered filed, and if you meet the income limitations and other eligibility rules, you will get your payment via your SSA records. Do not go pay another tax preparer if you didn’t need to file in the first place.

    • David S.

      This makes no sense to me. Why would they charge you? I filed with turbo tax, but did something wrong I guess, and they sent me an email that it was rejected. I haven’t had a need to file in over 20 years so who knows what I did wrong. Anyway, there was no option for me to enter my bank account, or debit or anything so there is NO way for them to charge me. This was all FREE to do, so why you paid for it is beyond me. You should have seen the charge and walked away. No, ran.

      • Michelle R.

        As a tax preparer, I feel that at this point they may have pushed updates in their software that automatically reject people who shouldn’t be filing because they have no taxable income. To avoid bogging down the e-file system for those who truly need to file taxes to get their payments, they could be rejecting the returns that are no longer necessary. None of that explains why TurboTax would charge someone $160, but I never liked their software before, and I would never recommend it knowing they charged someone now!

    • V.V.

      Hi Jeanie, thank you for your question. Social Security retirement, survivors, or disability beneficiaries and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) recipients who do not have qualifying children under age 17 do not need to take any action with the IRS. You will automatically receive your $1,200 economic impact payment directly from the IRS. You should receive the automatic payments by direct deposit, Direct Express debit card, or by paper check, just as you would normally receive your Social Security benefits. Hope this helps.

      • Demetra H.

        Good afternoon I have a question regarding your statement. I am my daughter’s payee rep. for SSI do I have to give any any information on myself to get the 1200 or will they pay me through her Direct Express Card that we receive monthly? Thank you for your time. Demetra

    • Laura

      I used TaxSlayer when we were initially told we would have to file a simple tax return, it was rejected on the first try because my adjusted gross income was 0. TaxSlayer actually walked me through what I had to do to keep it from being rejected a second time which was to claim 1$ of income from interest with myself as the payee. That did the trick. Unfortunately now I wish it had not been because it has disqualified from using the non-filers portal to claim my dependent and I couldn’t provide direct deposit information as I wasn’t getting a refund. I also can’t use “get my payment” to enter my direct deposit information for my dependent as it asks wether you got a refund or owed and Neither applies to me and if I click one and enter 0$ it gives me an error and kicks me out. ?‍♀️?‍♀️
      However, it was free to file through TaxSlayer and a really good free tax prep tool in my opinion.

  7. Rick

    I get SSI my wife had no income will her 1200 go on my Direct Express card.

    • It

      She NOT You needs to fill out non fillers. It will go wherever she sends it’s

    • V.V.

      Hi Rick, thank you for your question. Social Security retirement, survivors, or disability beneficiaries and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) recipients who do not have qualifying children under age 17 do not need to take any action with the IRS. You will automatically receive your $1,200 economic impact payment directly from the IRS. You should receive the automatic payments by direct deposit, Direct Express debit card, or by paper check, just as you would normally receive your Social Security benefits. Hope this helps.

      • John H.

        What if I used Non Filers when the government at the beginning said we had to for our SSI? Since I had no routing number for my Direct Express card, I entered my PayPal account routing and banking numbers. Did I mess things up? Will I get my stimulus on my Direct Express card (by default) or my PayPal card? Thank you for your insight.

  8. my

    i get ssi but my mom claimed me on her taxes so i guess i don’t get a check

    • kk

      no. sorry. I am in the same boat as you. 🙁 we won’t…

  9. Dave

    Well, this is looking well for me. I will never be able to work again plus I caught Covid 19 GRRRRR I have pretty bad cognitive issues and comments above really helped me understand what I missed in the official info at the top. Thank you to all of the helpful people in the comments!

  10. John

    People who voted for trump should have their dam heads examined We screwed under trump’s administration It was a senate and house that actually brought the bill up not Dump . Good ole dump will try to take credit for other people’s work And disable people will be screwed if Donald Trump makes it for a second term he must not make a second term so for those who voted for him better think twice this November Because the republicans have been trying for years to dismantle social security and social security disability So if we vote Republican and that means Donald Trump and you are disabled euro and gonna screw your arm self over shut the facts

    • Dave

      Yeah, it’s pretty narcissistic that he demanded his name be on all of the checks. To be honest Biden has tried to cut social security many times. Freaking crooked establishment Dumbocrats went out of their way to make sure Bernie Sanders didn’t get the nomination. I will keep his bumper sticker as long as it lasts! LOL

    • Dave

      Yeah, it’s pretty narcissistic that he demanded his name be on all of the checks. To be honest Biden has tried to cut social security many times. Freaking crooked establishment Dumbocrats went out of their way to make sure Bernie Sanders didn’t get the nomination. I will keep his bumper sticker as…

    • Michelle

      The President CAN NOT introduce a bill to Congress, he has to wait for them to introduce and approve it then he signs it. Go take a free Civics class online in your free time.

Comments are closed.