…from the Huffington Post…
People who receive Supplemental Security Income benefits will automatically receive coronavirus stimulus payments, the Trump administration announced Wednesday.
Instead of having to file a tax return or give the government their bank account number, the government will use the information it already has to deliver the $1,200 payments to SSI recipients.
The new policy should make life easier for the 5 million Americans who get by solely on SSI, which provides a meager monthly benefit to people with disabilities and limited work histories.
Congress created the coronavirus payments to help people survive the social distancing measures taken to slow the spread of the coronavirus, which has killed more than 24,000 Americans as of Wednesday afternoon. Everyone earning less than $75,000 is eligible for $1,200, plus $500 per child under 17.
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act said that Treasury should use Social Security information to pay people who hadn’t filed a tax return for 2019 or 2018, but the Trump administration initially said everyone had to file one anyway.
People with low incomes generally aren’t required to file federal tax returns. Non-tax filers who aren’t Social Security beneficiaries still have to do so to get a coronavirus rebate.
Wednesday’s announcement is the second time the administration has relaxed the tax return requirement for Social Security beneficiaries…