Warner, Kaine push to ensure families receive COVID-19 payments as quickly as possible

U.S. Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine are joining Senate colleagues calling on the Treasury Department to ensure that families not normally required to file taxes – and who will automatically receive their COVID-19 stimulus payment – do not need to wait until next year to receive the additional $500 payment per dependent child that they were promised if they miss the deadline to fill out information in the Internal Revenue Service’s non-filer portal.

From a letter to Treasury written by the senators:

“We write to express our concern that without additional action from your agencies, many families who receive Social Security benefits and have young children may not receive the full cash assistance that Congress provided in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act until 2021. We urge your agencies to ensure that economically vulnerable non-filers receiving Social Security retirement, Social Security disability, Supplemental Security Income (SSI), and Veterans Affairs (VA) benefits receive stimulus payments for themselves and their dependent children as quickly as possible – before next year.”

The letter comes after Treasury announced on Monday that families on Social Security, who do not normally file tax returns, needed to enter additional information on the IRS website within 48 hours in order to receive thier $500 payment per dependent child, as outlined in the CARES Act.

Treasury stated that if families missed the deadline, they would not receive the additional payment until they file in 2021. The Treasury’s announcement also indicated that it would soon set a similar deadline for recipients of Supplemental Security Income and certain Department of Veterans Affairs benefits whose beneficiaries also do not usually file taxes.

More from the letter:

“We request that Treasury find another way forward that – without delaying any automatic $1,200 payments – ensures that these Social Security beneficiaries and their children quickly receive the full amount of cash assistance for which they are eligible. We urge your agencies to continue providing access to the Non-Filers tool after non-filers have received their initial automatic stimulus payments, so that these economically vulnerable individuals can request and receive additional payments for dependent children prior to 2021.”