By Aman Jain. Originally published at ValueWalk.
With the third round of stimulus checks, the IRS is sending out the payment in record time. However, one eligible group that is still waiting for the payment is Social Security recipients. The good news is, the issue that was blocking the coronavirus stimulus checks for Social Security recipients has now been resolved.
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What’s Delaying Coronavirus Stimulus Checks For Social Security Recipients?
After the IRS started sending out the coronavirus stimulus payment a couple of weeks back, several Social Security recipients raised complaints that they have no official information on their stimulus payment.
On Wednesday, a letter from the House Ways and Means Committee admitted the delay, saying the issue is with the Social Security Administration (SSA). Further, the letter read that the 30 million Social Security recipients are awaiting their stimulus payment.
Two weeks before President Joe Biden signed the third stimulus package, the IRS asked the SSA to provide it with the payment files so that it could disburse the payment.
“As of today, SSA still has not provided the IRS with the payment files that are needed to issue [stimulus checks] to these struggling Americans,” the letter read.
However, on Thursday, the lawmakers informed that the SSA had sent the needed information to the IRS, clearing the way for the stimulus payment to be sent to almost 30 million Social Security recipients.
The Blame Game
This development doesn’t come as a surprise. The Democratic leaders on the House Ways and Means Committee gave the SSA a 24-hour deadline to provide the IRS with the needed information to process the stimulus payment, according to CNBC.
Also, the House Ways and Means Committee Chair Richard Neal blamed Social Security Commissioner Andrew Saul for delaying the payment. In response, Saul denied such claims.
In a statement on Thursday, Saul said the SSA’s role as defined by the Social Security Act and the American Rescue Plan Act placed limitations on it.
“Once we were free to move forward, we aggressively worked with Treasury and IRS to issue payments,” SSA commissioner said.
As per the SSA, it started working with the IRS on March 17, and submitted the necessary files on Thursday morning. This information from the SSA will allow the IRS to send the payment to the right bank accounts and addresses. With the latest files, the SSA also deleted individuals who are now deceased.
Saul noted that the files delivered to the IRS were sent about a week earlier compared to when similar files were sent at the time of the first stimulus payments.
“Social Security employees have literally worked day and night with IRS staff to ensure that the electronic files of Social Security and SSI recipients are complete, accurate, and ready to be used to issue payments,” Saul said.
As of now, it is unclear how long the IRS will now take to send the payment to 30 million beneficiaries. The Democratic lawmakers, however, have called on the IRS to send the payment quickly now.
The post Issue Blocking Coronavirus Stimulus Checks For Social Security Recipients Resolved appeared first on ValueWalk.
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