Ethen Kim Lieser
Stimulus Social Security,
As of Thursday, the Internal Revenue Service has confirmed that it has sent out one hundred twenty-seven million coronavirus relief checks—totaling roughly $750 billion—to financially struggling Americans under President Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan.
Despite those lofty figures, there are still millions of Social Security recipients in urgent need of financial assistance who say they haven’t seen a dime from the stimulus checks.
The reason is apparently due to the Social Security Administration (SSA) itself, according to a letter from the House Ways and Means Committee to the benefits agency, contending that thirty million Social Security recipients are sitting empty-handed because the SSA didn’t turn over the necessary payment information to the IRS in a timely fashion.
“We understand that these beneficiaries are waiting because the Social Security Administration has not sent the necessary payment files to the Internal Revenue Service,” Reps. Richard Neal, John Larson, Bill Pascrell, and Danny Davis wrote in the letter.
“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. We demand that you immediately provide the IRS with this information by tomorrow.”
In a separate letter earlier in the week, the House Ways and Means Committee wrote: “Some of our most vulnerable seniors and persons with disabilities, including veterans who served our country with honor, are unable to pay for basic necessities while they wait for their overdue payments.”
Exacerbating the entire process is that many senior citizens are finding it difficult to garner the necessary information via the IRS “Get My Payment” tool at www.irs.gov/coronavirus/get-my-payment. After entering their full Social Security or tax ID number, date of birth, street address, and ZIP code, more often than not, they have been receiving a message that says, “Payment Status Not Available.”
“If you get this message, either we have not yet processed your payment, or you are not eligible for a payment,” the IRS says. “We will continue to send the 2021 Economic Impact Payment to eligible individuals throughout 2021.”
Others have received a “Need More Information” message, which means that the stimulus check was returned to the IRS because the post office was unable to deliver it. The best way to update a new address is to “file your 2020 tax return with your current address, if you haven’t already done so. Once we receive your current address, we will reissue your payment,” the IRS noted.
Some seniors have resorted to calling the IRS at 800-919-9835, but they have found it nearly impossible to get through to a live representative. “IRS live phone assistance is extremely limited at this time,” the agency states.
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 many others.
