Senator Hassan, Colleagues Call on IRS to Swiftly Distribute Full $500 COVID-19 Payments for Dependents
Letter is the Latest in Advocacy Efforts from Senator Hassan to Get Americans the Payments They Are Entitled To
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Maggie Hassan (D-NH) and 12 of her colleagues are requesting information from Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Commissioner Charles Rettig about the status of $500 COVID-19 stimulus payments for qualifying individuals with dependents.
The CARES Act authorized the distribution of $1,200 payments to qualifying individuals and an additional payment of $500 for each dependent child under the age of 17, but Senator Hassan has heard from Granite Staters – and recent reporting has highlighted – that many eligible recipients have yet to receive those payments. The Treasury Department has stated that those who received their stimulus payment but did not receive the dependent payment must wait until 2021 to receive the dependent payment. Following this Treasury announcement, Senator Hassan previously led a group of 40 Senators in calling on the Treasury Department to provide these dependent payments to Social Security, Supplemental Security Income, and Veterans Affairs beneficiaries as quickly as possible.
In the letter sent today, Senator Hassan and colleagues highlighted the additional burdens this delay would place on those who are already experiencing financial challenges.
“We know that many of the constraints that you face are due to administrative difficulties caused by a decade of underinvestment in IRS. We also appreciate your work to get the $1,200 payments directly and automatically to recipients of Social Security, SSDI, Railroad Retirement, SSI, and VA benefits without having to file tax returns,” the Senators wrote. “However, we are concerned that individuals receiving SSI, VA benefits, Social Security, Railroad Retirement, or Social Security Disability Insurance who do not receive their dependent payments in a timely manner will face significant hardship. Many of these individuals were already struggling prior to the COVID-19 pandemic and are even more financially strained now.”
The Senators requested information on what steps the Treasury Department is taking to ensure that individuals swiftly get their full payments, how the Treasury and IRS will get payments to Social Security, SSI, and VA beneficiaries who missed filing deadlines before 2021, and for data to learn how many individuals have already received these payments.
This letter is the latest in advocacy efforts from Senator Hassan to get Americans the COVID-19 stimulus payments they are entitled to. As a result of efforts led by Senator Hassan and colleagues, more than 18 million Americans will now automatically receive their $1,200 stimulus payments included in the bipartisan CARES Act without having to file tax returns; Senator Hassan had previously successfully called on the Treasury Department to issue stimulus payments automatically to those who receive Social Security retirement or disability benefits, Supplemental Security Income, and VA pension, disability, or survivor benefits.
To read the letter sent today, click here.
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