SSDI received three rounds of Economic Impact Payments during the pandemic

If you were receiving SSDI in 2020 and 2021, you may have received Economic Impact Payments — sometimes called stimulus checks or recovery rebates — sent by the U.S. Treasury Department. These were one-time payments made to people on SSDI as part of federal pandemic relief. The payments came in three separate rounds: the first in spring 2020, the second in early 2021, and the third in mid-2021.

These payments were not part of your regular SSDI benefit amount. They were separate federal relief funds, and they did not change your monthly SSDI payment going forward. If you were on SSDI during any of those three periods, you should have received a payment automatically — you did not have to do anything to get it.

Because these payments ended in 2021, they are no longer part of what you receive. If you are asking about your current SSDI payment amount, Economic Impact Payments will not be included in that figure.

Key Takeaways

  • Economic Impact Payments were three separate one-time payments sent to SSDI recipients in 2020 and 2021 as pandemic relief, not ongoing monthly benefits.
  • The first payment was $1,200 per person, the second was $600 per person, and the third was $1,400 per person, though amounts varied slightly for people with dependents.
  • If you were on SSDI during any of these periods, the payment was sent automatically to the bank account or address on file with Social Security.
  • These payments have ended and do not affect your regular SSDI benefit amount now or in the future.
  • If you did not receive a payment you believe you were owed, the IRS has tools to check the status of past payments, though the important date to claim them has passed.

The three rounds of payments and their amounts

The first Economic Impact Payment went out starting in April 2020. Most SSDI recipients received $1,200. If you had dependents claimed on your tax return, you may have received an additional $500 per dependent child under age 17.

The second round began in January 2021. This payment was $600 per person, with an additional $600 per dependent child. The third and final round started in March 2021 and sent $1,400 per person, plus $1,400 per dependent child.

The exact amount you received in each round depended on your tax filing status and the number of dependents you had claimed. If you were unsure whether you received the full amount owed to you, the IRS provided a tool called the "Economic Impact Payment Information Center" where you could check the status of each payment. That tool is no longer active for new inquiries, but records of past payments remain with the IRS.

How the payments were sent

Social Security did not send these payments directly. The U.S. Treasury Department sent them using information Social Security provided. If you were on SSDI, the Treasury used the bank account or mailing address that Social Security had on file for you.

Most payments were sent by direct deposit to the bank account linked to your SSDI benefits. If Social Security did not have a bank account on file, the payment was mailed as a check to your address. A small number of people received payments on a debit card issued by the Treasury.

Because these payments used existing Social Security records, you did not have to contact anyone or fill out a form. The payment was sent automatically if you met the basic requirement: being on SSDI during the payment period.

Whether Economic Impact Payments affected your SSDI benefits

Economic Impact Payments did not count as income for SSDI purposes. This meant they did not reduce your monthly benefit, and they did not trigger any reporting requirement to Social Security. You could receive the full payment amount without any effect on your SSDI check.

The payments also did not count toward the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) resource limit if you were on SSI instead of SSDI. However, if you were on SSI and received a payment, you had a nine-month period to spend it before it would count against your resource limit. Many SSI recipients used this window to pay down debt or cover expenses.

Because these were federal relief payments rather than SSDI income, they worked differently from wages or other earnings that would normally affect your benefit amount.

If you did not receive a payment you expected

If you were on SSDI during any of the three payment periods and did not receive a payment, the most common reasons were: Social Security did not have a current bank account or mailing address on file, or there was an error in the Treasury's records matching you to Social Security's records.

The IRS allowed people to claim missing payments on their tax return for the year in which the payment should have been sent. For the first payment (2020), the important date to claim it was the 2020 tax filing important date. For the second and third payments (2021), the important date was the 2021 tax filing important date. Those important date have now passed, and the IRS is no longer processing new claims for these payments.

If you believe you were owed a payment and did not receive it, you can contact the IRS directly, though they cannot reissue payments after the filing important date has passed. You can also contact Social Security to confirm that your address and bank account information were current during the payment periods.

Why these payments ended and what they meant for SSDI

Economic Impact Payments were temporary relief tied to the COVID-19 pandemic. Congress authorized three rounds of payments through separate legislation, and no additional payments have been authorized since mid-2021. They were not intended to be ongoing or to change the structure of SSDI itself.

Your regular SSDI benefit amount is determined by your work history and the age at which you became disabled or reached retirement age. Economic Impact Payments were separate from that calculation and did not affect it. Your current SSDI payment is based on the same formula it always has been, and the pandemic payments have no bearing on what you receive now.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do Economic Impact Payments still happen, or was that only during the pandemic?

Economic Impact Payments ended in 2021. No additional payments have been authorized since then. If you are looking for information about your current SSDI benefit amount, these payments are not part of it.

If I didn't get one of the three payments, can I still claim it now?

The important date to claim missing payments has passed. You could only claim them on your tax return for the year the payment was supposed to be sent, and those filing important date are now closed. The IRS is no longer processing new claims for Economic Impact Payments.

Did the stimulus payments reduce my SSDI benefit?

No. Economic Impact Payments did not count as income for SSDI purposes and did not affect your monthly benefit amount. You kept the full payment without any reduction to your regular SSDI check.

How do I know if I received all three payments?

You can check your tax records or contact the IRS directly, though the Economic Impact Payment Information Center tool is no longer active. Social Security records will also show whether you were on SSDI during each payment period, which determined your may be able to access.