The Internal Revenue Service and the Treasury Department may have sent out one hundred sixty-four million $1,400 coronavirus stimulus checks to date under President Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan, but it appears that Social Security and Supplemental Security Income beneficiaries are once again lagging behind in getting their hands on the money.

For those who fit into this category, the Social Security Administration (SSA) is urging these folks to file a tax return—even without any earned income last year—as soon as possible in order to get the funds. Keep in mind that the Tax Day deadline for this year has been extended to May 17.

However, the SSA has noted that “most Social Security beneficiaries and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) recipients should have received their (economic impact payments) by now.”  

As for the current eighth batch of payments, nearly six hundred thousand checks with a value of more than $1.2 billion went to eligible individuals for whom the IRS previously did not have information to issue a payment but who recently filed a tax return. Take note that many of these checks are currently in transit if they are being delivered by USPS.

Meanwhile, know that there is also a way for federal beneficiaries to claim either or both of the missing first two stimulus payments. The IRS has reminded those impacted that for this tax season, a Recovery Rebate Credit has been added to all returns—line thirty of Forms 1040 or 1040-SR for seniors—so that people in this situation can eventually receive the overdue payments.  

The IRS website states that “if you didn’t get any payments or got less than the full amounts, you may qualify for the Recovery Rebate Credit and must file a 2020 tax return to claim the credit even if you don’t normally file.”  

Getting stimulus checks to federal beneficiaries, unfortunately, has been an ongoing issue for months.  

One of the main reasons for the holdup in the transfer of the much-needed funds was due to the SSA, according to a March letter from the House Ways and Means Committee to the benefits agency. It contended that millions of eligible senior citizens were left on the sidelines because the SSA failed to turn over the necessary payment information to the IRS in a timely fashion.  

In response, Commissioner Andrew Saul asserted that the agency was initially restricted in its actions based on how its role is defined by the Social Security Act and the terms outlined in the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan.  

“Once we were free to move forward, we aggressively worked with Treasury and IRS to issue payments,” he noted in a statement.  

Ethen Kim Lieser is a Minneapolis-based Science and Tech Editor who has held posts at Google, The Korea Herald, Lincoln Journal Star, AsianWeek, and Arirang TV. Follow or contact him on LinkedIn.  

Image: Reuters