If you are one of the millions of Americans receiving Social Security Disability Insurance or Supplemental Security Income benefits, you understand how challenging living on a fixed income can be. With the pandemic’s devastating effects, many Social Security benefit recipients are wondering if they will be eligible for one or more of the Coronavirus stimulus checks, also known as Economic Impact Payments.
Stimulus Check Qualifications for Recipients of SSDI and SSI
The requirements for the first two stimulus checks were fairly straightforward for Supplemental Security Income and Social Security Disability Insurance benefit recipients. Anyone who had a valid Social Security number and was receiving SSDI or SSI benefits was automatically given eligibility for the first and second Economic Impact Payments.
The only disqualifiers were if they were already claimed as a dependant on someone else’s tax return, or if they made more than the pre-established income threshold. The income cutoff is precluded by the income limits set by the Social Security Disability Insurance and Supplemental Security Income programs.
With a possible third stimulus check still being finalized in Congress, the requirements are likely going to remain largely the same. With the first two stimulus checks, eligibility was eliminated for some dependents that were over 18, and older adult dependents. It is widely believed that the requirements for the third payment will not only include the previous recipients but also open up eligibility to previously excluded dependent classes.
Missing Your First or Second Stimulus Payment? This Might Be Why
The IRS notes that anyone receiving SSDI or SSI benefits, as well as veterans, railroad benefit recipients, and more, were automatically made eligible for the first two stimulus checks. The first check may have been garnished in some rare cases or used to pay owed child support, but the second check was exempted from those situations.
How to Claim a Missing Payment
If you do receive SSDI or SSI but have not gotten a stimulus check for either the first or the second round, you may need to provide more information to the IRS. Currently, it is too late to collect the missing payments through any other means than by filing your 2020 taxes. You will need to utilize the Recovery Rebate Credit. If you are generally a non-filer, you will need to do so, in order to get your missing payment.
SSDI or SSI Recipient Living Outside the US?
In the rare scenario that you are a person receiving Social Security benefits while maintaining a foreign address and foreign bank account, you will receive your payments in the mail. The IRS is not able to remit payments to foreign bank accounts. The checks for these recipients were not mailed out until the end of July 2020. If you live outside the US, but maintain a US bank account where your monthly benefits are deposited, your first payment would have been issued as a direct deposit to that bank account
