In a major reversal, the IRS now says many low-income parents who missed a deadline to request the $500 stimulus payments for their children can still use the agency’s non-filers tool to get their money this year, the Washington Post reported. The decision will help people receiving federal benefits, such as Social Security Disability or Supplemental Security Income (SSI), who missed brief windows earlier in the pandemic to claim those payments online — or wait until next year. Many parents have been complaining that although they received their $1,200 stimulus payment as part of the $2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (Cares) Act, the Internal Revenue Service failed to include the extra $500 promised for each dependent child under 17. The distribution of stimulus payments has been plagued by glitches — including missing or incorrect payments for the dependent children of the most economically fragile Americans. To get stimulus payments to people who aren’t required to file or who earn too little to file a tax return, the IRS created a special online non-filers tool to help process payments and collect information for dependent children. Individuals receiving certain federal benefits — Social Security retirement benefits, survivor or disability benefits, or Railroad Retirement benefits — automatically received stimulus payments even if they didn’t file tax returns. But they had to go online and use the non-filers tool to claim the extra $500 they were owed for each dependent child. In a controversial move, the IRS issued a special alert on its website on April 20 giving these federal beneficiaries about 48 hours to claim their $500 payments. If they missed that very short window, they would have to wait until next year when they filed a 2020 federal tax return to get the money. An additional deadline of May 5 was set for people who receive SSI or Veterans Affairs benefits.
