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Deadline looms for nonfilers to register for child stimulus payments

By Sally P. Schreiber, J.D.

Please note: This item is from our archives and was published in 2020. It is provided for historical reference. The content may be out of date and links may no longer function.

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The IRS announced that people who receive Social Security retirement, survivor, or disability benefits (SSDI) or Railroad Retirement benefits and did not file a tax return in 2018 or 2019 and who have dependent children who qualify for the additional $500 payments must enter the children’s identifying information on the IRS’s Non-Filers: Enter Payment Info Here tool by noon Eastern time on Wednesday, April 22, to receive the per-child portion of the advance credit with their automatically issued $1,200 economic impact payment (IR-2020-76). Those who do not enter the information by then will, by law, receive the additional payment when they file a 2020 tax return. They are not eligible to use the Non-Filer tool once their payment has been issued.

Under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, P.L. 116-136, eligible individuals will receive an economic impact payment of up to $1,200 for individuals or $2,400 for married couples. Parents also receive $500 for each qualifying child.

Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Veterans Affairs (VA) beneficiaries have more time to enter their information because their economic impact payments are being made on a later schedule. SSI recipients will receive their economic impact payments in early May; the VA payment schedule for beneficiaries who receive compensation and pension (C&P) benefit payments is still being determined. The IRS has not set a deadline for those recipients to enter their children’s information, but if they have children and are not required to file a tax return, the IRS is urging both groups to use the Non-Filer tool as soon as possible to enter their children’s identifying information. Once the automatic $1,200 economic impact payments are issued, those taxpayers will have to file a 2020 return to receive the children’s payments.

For more news and reporting on the coronavirus and how CPAs can handle challenges related to the pandemic, visit the JofA’s coronavirus resources page.

For tax-related resources, visit the AICPA’s Coronavirus (COVID-19) Tax Resources page.

— Sally P. Schreiber, J.D., (Sally.Schreiber@aicpa-cima.com) is a JofA senior editor.