Social Security Recipients Have Two Days to Claim $500 for Kids

(Bloomberg) -- Individuals receiving Social Security, disability or veterans benefits have until Wednesday to tell the IRS about any children eligible for $500 stimulus payments if they want to receive the money this year.

The Internal Revenue Service has repeatedly said that people who get these federal benefits need to submit information to the IRS if they have a dependent child age 16 or under. Monday is the first time the agency said that information must be in by Wednesday.

Adults who receive Social Security, disability or veterans benefits don’t need to take any action to receive the $1,200 stimulus payment for themselves because the IRS already has their bank information. But the IRS doesn’t know if they have a child eligible for the additional benefit.

“Their $1,200 payments will be issued soon and, in order to add the $500 per eligible child amount to these payments, the IRS needs the dependent information before the payments are issued,” the agency said in a press release Monday.

“Otherwise, their payment at this time will be $1,200 and, by law, the additional $500 per eligible child amount would be paid in association with a return filing for tax year 2020,” the IRS said.

The IRS has said that recipients of Social Security, Supplemental Security Income and Veterans Affairs benefits will receive their stimulus funds through the same process they get their other benefits. Those payments should start arriving by the end of April, according to the House Ways and Means Committee.

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