BRAND NEW article on receipt of stimulus checks for SS recipients (YES YOU GET IT, NO NEED TO FILE)
I am copying the article here because the link to it on HuffPost isn't working.
Social Security beneficiaries wont have to file tax returns in order to receive the coronavirus relief payments, the Trump administration announced Wednesday in a quick reversal of an earlier position.
Social Security recipients who are not typically required to file a tax return need to take no action, and will receive their payment directly to their bank account, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a news release.
Millions of Americans, including many receiving Social Security retirement and disability benefits, arent required to file federal returns because their incomes are so low they dont owe federal taxes.
The vast majority of Americans are eligible for the $1,200 rebate Congress authorized last week, but on Monday the Internal Revenue Service announced everyone would have to file a tax return to receive the money.
Since then, dozens of Social Security beneficiaries told HuffPost they were unable to file online using the free services linked from IRS.gov ― presenting a major obstacle to their getting the benefits.
Sue Bohl, a 63-year-old Social Security Disability Insurance recipient in De Pere, Wisconsin, said she tried filing a tax return on Friday and wasnt allowed to finish the form because she had no taxable income.
Since my printer isnt working, Im not able to print it out to send it in, she said. Its hard for me, because I dont think its smart to be going out to do anything right now, so Im stuck!
Fifteen million households didnt file taxes in 2019, according to the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, and since Monday concern mounted that many would struggle to do so in order to receive the coronavirus payments.
House Ways and Means Committee chairman Richard Neal (D-Mass.) said his office had been inundated with phone calls from Social Security beneficiaries confused and upset about the policy. He demanded that Mnuchin change the policy and use other data sources to deliver benefits to Social Security recipients who dont file federal tax returns.
I am relieved that Secretary Mnuchin has heeded that call, but our work is not done, Neal said Wednesday.
The text of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act ― signed into law by President Donald Trump less than a week ago ― said the payments would be based on tax information but specified that the IRS could use Social Security benefit statements to provide the rebate checks to some households. Mnuchin apparently did not like that idea but has now come around.
Non-filers who do not receive Social Security benefits, however, will still need to file tax returns if they havent for 2018 or 2019.
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