Social Security Recipients Will Start Getting Stimulus Checks This Week

Good news for seniors and the disabled: Automatic $1,200 stimulus payments for people receiving Social Security retirement, survivors or disability insurance benefits (SSDI), or Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) benefits, are scheduled to begin arriving this week. Unless you filed a tax return for 2018 or 2019, the IRS will use information from the Social Security Administration (or RRB) to generate a payment to you. (Social Security recipients will receive a stimulus check automatically if they did not file a tax return for one of the past two years.) You'll receive the payment by direct deposit, debit card or paper check—whichever way you normally receive your benefits.

For Social Security and RRB beneficiaries who don't normally file a tax return, have a dependent child 16 years old or younger, and registered using the IRS's "Non-Filers: Enter Your Payment Info Here" tool by the April 22 deadline, additional $500 per child payments are scheduled to start arriving this week, too.

If you're a Social Security or RRB benefits recipient with a qualified dependent child, but you didn't register using the non-filers tool by April 22, you'll still receive a $1,200 payment. However, you won't receive the extra $500 per child amount at this time. You can claim the additional amount when you file your 2020 tax return next year, though.

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(Note that you are not eligible to receive a stimulus payment if you can be claimed as a dependent on someone else's tax return.)