[NFB-NM] FW: CARES Act child rebates: important update

Sun Aug 16 12:40:50 UTC 2020

Best wishes,

Tonia Trapp, secretary
National Federation of the Blind of New Mexico

From: Trapp, Greg, CFB <Greg.Trapp at state.nm.us> 
Sent: Saturday, August 15, 2020 5:22 PM
To: 'nfbnewmexicosecretary at gmail.com' <nfbnewmexicosecretary at gmail.com>
Subject: FW: CARES Act child rebates: important update

From: Ellen Pinnes [mailto:EPinnes at msn.com] 
Sent: Saturday, August 15, 2020 3:57 PM
To: Ellen Pinnes
Subject: [EXT] CARES Act child rebates: important update

This message is from Ellen Pinnes and The Disability Coalition.   

* * * * * * *  

If you're a recipient of Social Security, SSI, VA or Railroad Retirement
benefits who has children age 16 or younger and didn't get a CARES Act
Economic Impact Payment (EIP) for them in the spring, you now can get those
payments without waiting until next year.

The CARES Act passed by Congress in March provided for EIPs of $1,200 for
adults and $500 for children under age 17, to help people through the
economic disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic.  Many people who
receive SSI or other federal benefits got payments for themselves but didn't
get the ones for their children.  The IRS now says it will send out those
payments in October instead of making people wait until next year - but you
may have to take action to make that happen.

There was much confusion in the spring about would get the EIPs sent out
automatically by the IRS and who would have to file a special return to get
the payment.  In the end, the government sent the payments automatically to
many people who don't ordinarily file tax returns because their income is so
low that a return isn't required - but for whom the federal government had
information on file because they receive federal benefits such as Social
Security or SSI.  However, many of these people have children who also
qualified for rebates, but the feds didn't have information about those kids
and couldn't issue rebates for them automatically.  

Unfortunately, the IRS issued directives requiring benefit recipients to
file information about the kids within very short deadlines and said that
anyone who missed the deadline would have to wait until 2021 to get the
kids' EIPs - forcing very low-income families to go without this important
support for a year or more.

In response to a lawsuit challenging the failure to send children's EIPs
this year, the IRS has now reversed its earlier decision and will issue
those child rebates in October for people who either filed to get them after
the spring deadline or didn't file at all at that time.  Here's what you
need to know: 
*	If you went to the IRS "Non-Filers Tool" in the spring and
registered the information about your kids, you don't need to do anything
more.  The IRS has the information on file and will issue the rebate to you.
*	If you haven't yet registered information about your kids who
qualify for the rebate, you should do that by September 30.  Go to
http://www.irs.gov/coronavirus/non-filers-enter-payment-info-here
<about:blank>  and click on the link "Non-Filers:  Enter Payment Info Here"
(look for the blue box in the middle of the page).  This will take you to
Free File Fillable Forms, where you'll create an account and follow the
instructions to enter information.
*	The rebate payment does not count as income in determining
eligibility for benefits programs like SSI, and it won't be counted as a
resource for twelve months.  So getting it won't cause people to lose their
benefits.

For more information about EIPs or to check the status of a payment you're
waiting for, go to the IRS's coronavirus page at
https://www.irs.gov/coronavirus.

Please pass on this information to others who need to know.  Thanks for
helping to get the word out and make sure everyone gets the payments they're
entitled to in these difficult times! 

* * * * * * * 

The Disability Coalition is funded in part by the   
New Mexico Developmental Disabilities Planning Council   
through Federal Program funding.    
Additional funding is provided by   
The Arc of New Mexico, Disability Rights New Mexico,  
the Independent Living Resource Center, and New Vistas.  

If you prefer not to receive emails from The Disability Coalition,  
please send a message to EPinnes at msn.com <mailto:EPinnes at msn.com>  with
"unsubscribe" in the subject line. 

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