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Social Security recipients who don’t file taxes will get automatic stimulus payments, Treasury says

By Austin Williams
Updated  April 2, 2020 4:22pm EDT
Coronavirus
FOX TV Digital Team

WASHINGTON - With confusion circulating around who is qualified to receive payments from the historic $2.2 trillion COVID-19 rescue bill, the U.S. Treasury Department has assured Social Security recipients that they will not have to file a tax return in order to receive a stimulus check.

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It was originally believed that anyone who did not file a tax return this year or last would not receive payment.

“Social Security recipients who are not typically required to file a tax return do not need to take an action, and will receive their payment directly to their bank account,” said Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin in a statement.

Payments will either be deposited directly into recipients’ bank accounts or sent in the mail as a check. 

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For most Americans including those who have filed their taxes in 2020 or 2019, the bill would provide one-time direct payments of $1,200 per adult making up to $75,000 a year and $2,400 to a married couple making up to $150,000, with $500 payments per child.

60 million payments are reportedly expected to be sent out during the week of April 13 via direct deposit, according to memo from Democrats on the House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee, obtained by Reuters. 

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Those who have not set up direct deposit will not recieve a physical check until May 4, according to the memo. 

According to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, immigrants who file taxes using an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) instead of a Social Security Number will be exempt from payments, which the institution says excludes an additional estimated 4.3 million adults and 3.5 million children from the benefit.