Social Security recipients will receive coronavirus stimulus checks without needing to file extra paperwork, a measure lawmakers pushed for to clear up confusion surrounding how millions of nontax-filing beneficiaries would receive their cash.
Recipients will receive stimulus payments in the coming weeks without having to do any extra work and in the same form that they normally receive benefits: either as a direct deposit or paper check.
In addition all Toledo residents who have filed income tax returns in 2018 or 2019 and who earn $75,000 or less per year will automatically receive a check for $1,200, plus $500 per child. The payments are smaller for a person earning between $75,000 and $99,000. Individuals earning over that amount, or couples earning over $198,000, will not receive a check.
Lawmakers this week pushed back against U.S. Treasury Department guidance that appeared to require Social Security recipients, who are mostly seniors and the disabled, to file a simple tax return in order to receive a stimulus check. An estimated 15 million people who receive Social Security benefits are not required to file taxes.
“It is wrong for President Trump to force senior citizens to jump through hoops and fill out unnecessary paperwork to receive their coronavirus stimulus checks that Congress authorized on a bipartisan basis,” U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D., Toledo) said.
The U.S. Treasury Department announced the clarification on Thursday after a group of 41 senators, led by Sens. Sherrod Brown (D., Ohio) and Maggie Hassan (D., N.H.), called on the Treasury Department to automatically send relief money to Social Security recipients.
Mr. Brown and Ms. Hassan argued a policy making it more difficult for people to access funds wasn’t in keeping with the spirit of the $2 trillion economic stimulus law designed to provide relief to Americans during the coronavirus pandemic.
“Seniors and individuals who experience disabilities are especially vulnerable as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread, and they cannot afford to miss out on the direct cash assistance included in the CARES Act,” the senators wrote.
“That’s why in drafting the law, Congress made it explicitly clear that Social Security beneficiaries do not need to take any additional action in order to receive their payments. It is unfortunate that the IRS created confusion with its guidance this week, but we are very pleased that the Treasury Department reversed course and will now get this cash to Social Security beneficiaries automatically as Congress intended.”
First Published April 2, 2020, 9:02 p.m.
