Staying Fit
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is giving certain federal beneficiaries a second chance to claim $500 stimulus checks for eligible dependent children.
In the spring, in order to expedite the distribution of $1,200 stimulus payments to federal beneficiaries who had not filed federal tax returns for 2018 or 2019, the IRS gave beneficiaries a narrow window to claim additional $500 stimulus payments for qualifying dependent children. Most of those beneficiaries had to use the non-filers tool on irs.gov to submit a dependent claim. Once the claim window closed — for most it was May 5 — the beneficiaries were told they would need to wait until they filed their 2020 tax returns in 2021 to claim the dependent payments. That left many beneficiaries facing months-long waits to receive much-needed money during the pandemic.
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In a July 27 letter to the IRS commissioner, AARP urged the IRS to reopen the non-filers tool to Social Security and other federal beneficiaries who missed the earlier deadlines so they could claim $500 stimulus payments for eligible dependent children. The IRS has now acquiesced to that request.
"AARP is pleased that IRS has reopened its system to provide $500 economic impact payments for dependents of Social Security and other beneficiaries,” says David Certner, director of legislative policy for government affairs at AARP. “These payments are needed to help many older Americans who are struggling to care for younger dependents during the current financial crisis."
