Stimulus Check Live Updates: Will There Be A December Stimulus Check To End 2021 What About Child Tax Credit
Information on the USA’s fourth stimulus check and other forms of financial aid is hard to come by, which is why ourprovides useful updates on all the support available. This includes Child Tax Credit payments, new Unemployment Benefits, Medicare Benefits, COLA 2022 increases, Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit, IRS Tax Refunds and more.
- Child Tax Credit Updates.What is different with December payments?
The Biden Administration has attempted to cushion the economic blow of COVID-19 with various forms of stimulus checks sent out across the United States. Even though a fourth stimulus check does not appear to be forthcoming, there are various other forms of financial aid being offered by states this December. In our live blog this December 2, you can find all the latest news on the support available in your state, as well as details of a surprise stimulus payment coming in the near future, ahead of the holiday season.
COVID-19 continues to cause economic issues across the US and the rest of the world, meaning that these payments come as a welcome relief to many individuals and families all over the country. Below, we provide all of the latest on the stimulus checks and unemployment benefits being offered, as well as the upcoming changes to COLA and Medicare.
If Someone Else Oversees My Federal Benefits Account How Will I Get My Stimulus Check
If someone, also known as a representative payee, helps manage your Social Security benefits on your behalf, that person — a relative, friend or someone appointed on behalf of an organization — should discuss your benefits with you, the beneficiary. That’s according to guidance from the Social Security Administration. So if you’d like to use your money, the person managing your account should provide you with the stimulus payment.
“Your Individual Representative Payee should have received your EIP to the same direct deposit account or Direct Express card as your monthly Social Security or SSI payment,” the SSA says on its site. “For an Organizational Representative Payee, the payee likely received the EIP electronically or by paper check in the mail.”
The SSA says representative payees aren’t required to account for the stimulus payment when they complete their annual accounting form, as it’s not considered a Social Security benefit.
You could be missing out on more stimulus money.
Payment Status Not Available Message
If you aren’t having luck with the Get My Payment tool, keep checking your bank account or Direct Express card, or wait for a letter from the IRS. The IRS will mail you a letter several weeks after the agency deposits your stimulus money or mails your paper check. The letter will tell you how and when the payment was made. If you didn’t receive the money, the letter will tell you how to contact the IRS.
Some disability recipients saw this message when they logged on to the IRS’s Get My Payment tool in January or February: Payment Status #2 – Not Available. The IRS has indicated that these individuals will not receive a stimulus check by direct deposit or mail, and they will have to file a 2020 tax return to claim their Recovery Rebate Credit . See above for instructions on claiming the rebate on your tax return. These messages have now disappeared and will be replaced by information about the third payment.
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Am I Eligible For The Third Stimulus Check
The American Rescue Plan provides households with $1,400 for each adult, child and adult dependent, such as college students or elderly relatives.
The payments start declining for an individual once adjusted gross income exceeds $75,000 and go to zero once income hits $80,000. The payment starts declining for married couples when income exceeds $150,000 and goes to zero at $160,000.
A qualifying family of four would receive $5,600.
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Will I Receive A Paper Check Or Direct Deposit
If you are currently receiving monthly SSDI benefits, your coronavirus stimulus check will be sent to you in whatever form you receive your ongoing benefits. If your benefits automatically deposit in your bank account, your economic impact payment will also be directly deposited into the same account.
If you still receive a monthly mailed check for your disability benefits, your economic stimulus check will be mailed to the same address where you receive your SSDI check. The Social Security Administration strongly encourages SSDI recipients to sign up for direct deposit to prevent payment delays and theft.
If you need to update or change your mailing or banking information, you can do so using your My Social Security account or by calling 1-800-772-1213.
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Social Security Disability Recipients Included In $2 Trillion Stimulus Bill
The 880-page stimulus bill President Trump signed into law Friday authorizes a one-time payment to most Americans. Heres a quick rundown of what people on SSD should know about getting a federal stimulus payment:
- Current disability beneficiaries: The government uses your Social Security benefit information to determine whether you qualify for a stimulus payment. Theyll pull information from your SSA-1099, Social Security Benefit Statement or Form RRB-1099, Social Security Equivalent Benefit Statement. This helps confirm your annual adjusted gross income and direct-deposit banking information .
- Applied for disability, but not yet approved for any Social Security benefits? You must file your 2019 income taxes to receive a stimulus payment its impossible to get one unless you do. If you havent yet filed your tax return because of the July 15 extension, you need to do so now. You can file for free online directly through the IRS.gov website.
- If you receive your monthly SSDI payments via direct deposit, youll get your stimulus payment much faster. Its still unclear when people can expect to receive these payments. However, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin says he expects people with direct deposit to receive theirs sometime in April. So, if the IRS or Social Security Administration already has your direct-deposit info on file, youll get paid quickest. Unfortunately, anyone without direct-deposit could wait until July 2020 to receive a stimulus check by mail.
How Will Ssdi And Ssi Recipients Get Their Stimulus Checks
SSDI and SSI recipients who receive their monthly benefit payments by Direct Express debit card should receive their stimulus payments by Direct Express. This was not necessarily true for the first and second payments, but the IRS says most disability recipients should receive their third payments by Direct Express. Others might either receive a direct deposit , a paper check, or a prepaid Visa debit card.
The debit cards, issued by MetaBank, are called Economic Impact Payment cards. After activating the card, you can use your EIP card for purchases or use it to withdraw cash . You can also transfer the funds from your EIP card directly into your own bank account, after you register for online access.
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When Should Ssdi And Ssi Recipients Get Their Stimulus Checks
You can probably expect to receive your third stimulus payment by mid-April. Now that the IRS has Social Security’s files of its active beneficiaries, the IRS will start to release payments to all SSDI and SSI recipients on April 7. The IRS will continue making payments throughout April.
Second stimulus checks. The IRS started sending second stimulus payments to SSDI and SSI recipients in early January. If you haven’t received your second payment, you can create an account on the IRS website to get information on the first and second payments. You should be able to see where the payments were deposited or when they were mailed. The IRS says it may take three or four weeks to get the payment by mail.
Eligibility Requirements To Receive A Coronavirus Relief Stimulus Check
As mentioned earlier, recipients of disability benefits are not excluded from receiving the stimulus checks, but there are specific requirements that must be met in order to qualify for these funds. First, you must have a valid Social Security number. Second, you must not be claimed as a dependent on another individuals tax return. Third, you cannot be incarcerated. Fourth, your income will dictate how much you receive. For example, only individuals making less than $75,000 are eligible to receive the full $600. The government typically uses recent tax filings to determine an individuals income in most cases.
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What If The Irs Didnt Send Me The Full Amount For The First Or Second Stimulus Payment
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 stimulus payments. If you receive these federal benefits as your only form of income, you werent required to file a federal income tax return in 2018 or 2019. Under the CARES Act, you should have received a stimulus check automatically.
If that money didnt arrive, its possible you might have had a payment garnished for child support or funds diverted to pay a specific kind of creditor, but the rules changed with the second check. However, an IRS error could also be a potential culprit or the IRS may have needed more information about your eligibility.
To receive your money now, you need to claim the additional amount as part of tax season 2020, using the Recovery Rebate Credit. Even if you dont usually file taxes, youll have to file to get the funds. The deadline for filing your 2020 taxes was extended to May 17, 2021.
In some cases if you received a letter from the IRS confirming that your payment was sent, but you never actually got the money, for instance you may need to contact the IRS to request a payment trace.
The IRS says you can create and then check an IRS account to see more information about your eligibility around the first two stimulus payments.
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If Youre Still Missing Money From The First Two Stimulus Checks And Dont File Taxes Heres What Youll Have To Do
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 stimulus payments. If you receive these federal benefits as your only form of income, you werent 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 .
If that money didnt arrive, its 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.
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Amount Of Your Third Stimulus Check
Every eligible American will receive a $1,400 third stimulus check base amount. The base amount jumps to $2,800 for married couples filing a joint tax return. You also get an extra $1,400 for each dependent in your family .
Not everyone will receive the full amount, though. As with the first two stimulus payments, third-round stimulus checks will be reduced potentially to zero for people reporting an adjusted gross income above a certain amount on their latest tax return. If you filed your most recent tax return as a single filer, your third stimulus check will be phased-out if your AGI is $75,000 or more. That threshold jumps to $112,500 for head-of-household filers, and to $150,000 for married couples filing a joint return. Third-round stimulus checks will be completely phased out for single filers with an AGI above $80,000, head-of-household filers with an AGI over $120,000, and joint filers with an AGI exceeding $160,000.
You can use our handy Third Stimulus Check Calculator to get a customized estimated payment amount. All you have to do is answer three easy questions.
How To Track Your Stimulus Check
The IRS said Tuesday the Get My Payment tool on the agencys website wont be updated until the weekend of April 3-4, so federal beneficiaries will have to wait until at least then to check on the status of their payments. VA benefit recipients may have to wait until at least mid-April to use the tool.
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What Can You Do If You Did Not Get The First Or Second Stimulus Payments
If you did not receive payment for the first or second round of economic impact payments or believe you did not receive the full amount to which you were entitled there is a way to resolve it. You must file a 2020 tax return and claim the 2020 recovery rebate credit for the amount you are owed.
Lost payments from any of the three rounds can be traced by the IRS. If you find that the IRS records indicate payment being made to you, you can request that it trace the payment. Tracing takes time and will not begin immediately. Depending on how the payment was made to you by the IRS, the following waiting periods apply:
1). Five days from the date of a direct deposit that your bank did not receive.
2). Four weeks for mailed checks.
3). Six weeks for a check mailed but forwarded to another address because you moved.
4). Nine weeks when a check was mailed to a foreign address.
If you filed a tax return within the past three years, check with your tax preparer to verify the address on the return and the method you chose to receive any tax refund that may have been due before initiating a trace through the IRS.
How A Life Change Affects Your Stimulus Check/payment Eligibility
With the third stimulus check dispersal under way, millions have already received their third stimulus payments. But the more Americans get their checks, the more questions arise specifically about how life changes affect your stimulus payment.
The first, second and now third economic impact payment or stimulus payments can be paid in advance. Your eligibility and amount is based off your most recently filed tax return but what if that information is incorrect?
For example, what if you havent filed taxes yet but got married in July 2020? Or had a baby? What if youre dealing with the aftermath of a divorce or the recent death of a loved one? What if you already received your first and second stimulus checks, but it was for the wrong amount? What if you graduated from college in 2020 and arent a dependent anymore?
For the first and second stimulus payments, if your situation changed, youll claim the rest youre owed through the Recovery Rebate credit on your 2020 return. For the third , youll wait to claim the credit on your 2021 tax return.
The IRS understood the need to get stimulus payments out quickly. As a result, some taxpayers have found differences in the amount they should have received due to tax filing changes and income changes.
Below, well clear things up about who is eligible for a stimulus checks, payment, and the credit and how life changes affect your eligibility.
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What If My Payment Doesnt Come
Contact the Social Security Administration at 1-800-772-1213 or find a Social Security office near you if your direct deposit or debit card funds arent made on time. The SSA asks that you wait three days before reaching out to them, however.
The risk of your check being stolen is virtually eliminated if you use the Direct Deposit option because the money is transmitted electronically and directly to your bank account.
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Stimulus Checks Cause Some To Lose Disability Benefits
Stimulus payments arent supposed to count against eligibility for social insurance programs like disability benefits, but some people might have lost benefits because of too much money in their bank accounts.
The Social Security Administration has suspended disability benefits for some Supplemental Security Income recipients because the stimulus payments pushed their bank accounts above the programs archaic $2,000 limit, according to legal aid attorneys.
The whole point of stimulus was to help people who were being harmed during COVID, and now theres going to be people facing a cessation of benefits and theyre going to end up in a worse place, said Michelle Spadafore, senior supervising attorney with the New York Legal Assistance Group, citing several cases in New York that shes aware of.
Its likely that relatively few of the programs nearly 8 million beneficiaries have been affected. The program provides $794 monthly to people with disabilities and limited resources who cant earn much on their own. Most people on SSI would have been eligible for full stimulus payments from the three coronavirus relief bills Congress passed.
Everyone on SSI is subject to the resource limit, which hasnt been updated since 1989. Its $2,000 for individuals and $3,000 for couples, with exclusions for a home, a car and certain other assets.
Morris thinks its ridiculous, and that losing $79 of his monthly income could make it hard to pay his electric bill.
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