Retirement, survivor, and disability benefit recipients with children have until April 22 to register for an extra $500 per eligible child in coronavirus relief payments.
The IRS introduced its “Plus $500” outreach plan April 20 to let benefit recipients who didn’t file tax returns for 2018 or 2019 know that they can still receive some additional cash.
Those benefits include Veterans Affairs or Social Security disability, retirement, and survivor benefits, and Supplemental Security Income and Railroad Retirement benefits.
Rev. Proc. 2020-28 and an IRS “special alert” release, both issued April 20, could be considered the agency’s answer to weeks of congressional criticism that significant portions of needy populations will not be reached with coronavirus relief funds.
“We want to ‘Plus $500’ these recipients with children so they can get their maximum economic impact payment of $1,200, plus $500 for each eligible child, as quickly as possible,” IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig said in the release. “These groups don’t normally have a return filing obligation and may not realize they qualify for a larger payment.”
The IRS recommended that federal benefit recipients with children enter data about their qualifying children and their direct deposit information via the agency’s online nonfiler app.
Rev. Proc. 2020-28 outlines how people who aren’t required to file a tax return for 2019, and those with zero adjusted gross income, may file simplified returns before October 15 to get a stimulus payment.
Those who didn’t have to file in 2019 can file a simplified return via the IRS nonfiler app and receive their stimulus money faster by registering their direct deposit information with the IRS, the tax agency said.
Zero-AGI filers should write “EIP2020” at the top of their e-filed or mailed forms 1040 or 1040-SR, the IRS said. The filer should also enter “$1” for lines 2b (taxable interest), 7b (total income), and 8b (adjusted gross income), but “$0” for line 11b (taxable income), the agency said.