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Administration Moves to Give Families with Children More Time to Claim $500 COVID-19 Relief Checks

August 14, 2020 — Blog    — Coronavirus Bulletin   

Key points:

— The IRS is reopening the payment process for eligible families that did not file a tax return in 2018 or 2019 and did not previously receive $500 per dependent. These families can now claim those dependents by September 30 and receive a supplemental payment.

— This positive step comes following work done by Ways and Means Republicans with the IRS Commissioner, calling for action on this issue to help families receive these payments.  

Details: 

The Trump Administration moved at record speed to provide families and workers with checks of up to $1,200 per adult and $500 per child in response to the economic damage of COVID-19. The IRS made direct EIP payments for certain federal beneficiaries that did not file tax returns in 2018 or 2019. These individuals had the opportunity this past spring to claim dependents using the IRS non-filer tool. However, many individuals were unable to submit information by the deadline and received EIPs that did not include $500 per dependent.

Ways and Means Republicans have been working with the IRS and have been encouraging the Administration to find a solution to ensure that these Americans with children were able to receive the full benefits of the CARES Act. 

Today, the IRS announced that it will reopen the registration period for these payments, ensuring that eligible families that did not previously receive dependent payments can apply to receive supplemental payments of $500 per dependent.

“IRS employees have been working non-stop to deliver more than 160 million Economic Impact Payments in record time. We have coordinated outreach efforts with thousands of community-based organizations and have provided materials in more than two dozen languages,” IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig said. “Given the extremely high demand for EIP assistance, we have continued to prioritize and increase resource allocations to eligible individuals, including those who may be waiting on some portion of their payment. To help with this, we are allocating additional IRS resources to ensure eligible recipients receive their full payments during this challenging time.”

HOW TO GET THIS RELIEF:

If you think you qualify for this relief, you can go here to file. https://www.irs.gov/coronavirus/non-filers-enter-payment-info-here

If you have any questions regarding these payments, you can find additional information via the IRS Economic Impact Information Center.

The application period runs from Aug. 15 through Sept. 30. The IRS expects these funds to be sent by mid-October. 

Want to read more on the fight against Coronavirus? Read our Coronavirus Bulletin here which contains our extensive FAQ about recent federal actions.

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SUBCOMMITTEE: Oversight    SUBCOMMITTEE: Tax