How SSDI Recipients Received Stimulus Payments During COVID-19

SSDI recipients received stimulus payments automatically if they filed a 2019 or 2020 tax return

If you received Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) in 2020 or 2021, you were sent stimulus payments without having to take any action—as long as the Social Security Administration had your correct mailing address on file. The IRS and SSA shared data to identify who should receive payments. Most SSDI recipients got their first stimulus check ($1,200) in April 2020, the second ($600) in January 2021, and the third ($1,400) in March 2021.

The payments went to your address of record with Social Security. If you had moved and not updated your address, or if you were homeless, the check may have been returned to the IRS. The IRS then held the payment and you had to claim it on your 2020 or 2021 tax return, or contact the IRS directly to request a payment trace.

SSDI recipients who did not file taxes in 2019 or 2020 could still receive stimulus money by using the IRS Non-Filer tool on IRS.gov, though this window closed in 2021. That tool is no longer available.

Key Takeaways

• SSDI recipients received all three stimulus payments automatically between April 2020 and March 2021 if Social Security had a current mailing address.
• You did not need to file a tax return or take any action to receive the payments; the IRS and SSA matched records automatically.
• If your check was returned because your address was wrong, you could claim the payment on your tax return or file a payment trace with the IRS.
• SSDI recipients who did not file taxes could use the IRS Non-Filer tool, but that tool is no longer open.
• Stimulus payments did not count as income for SSDI purposes and did not reduce your monthly benefit.

Why SSDI recipients did not have to explore

Congress designed the stimulus payments to reach people quickly, and the IRS had already identified SSDI recipients through Social Security's records. Because SSDI is a federal program administered by the Social Security Administration, the IRS could cross-reference SSA's database of current beneficiaries with tax records. If you were on SSDI in 2020, you were in that database.

The IRS used your 2019 tax return if you filed one, or your 2020 return if you filed that year. If you had not filed either year, the IRS used SSA's records directly. This meant that even people who had never filed a tax return in their lives received the payment, because being on SSDI was proof enough of may be able to access.

This automatic approach was different from other federal benefit programs. Veterans, Supplemental Security Income (SSI) recipients, and Railroad Retirement beneficiaries also received automatic payments through the same mechanism, but only SSDI and SSI recipients did not have to file a tax return to may have access to.

How the three payments were distributed

The first stimulus payment ($1,200 per adult) was authorized in March 2020 under the CARES Act and mailed starting in April 2020. The IRS sent most payments by paper check, though some went by direct deposit if you had provided banking information to the IRS in a prior tax return. SSDI recipients who had not filed taxes in years sometimes received paper checks because the IRS had no bank account on file.

The second stimulus payment ($600 per adult) was authorized in December 2020 and mailed in January 2021. This payment used the same process: automatic mailing to your SSA address of record, or direct deposit if the IRS had your bank details.

The third stimulus payment ($1,400 per adult) was authorized in March 2021 under the American Rescue Plan Act and mailed starting that same month. By this point, the IRS had learned from the first two rounds and had better address data, so fewer payments were returned.

What happened if your check did not arrive

If you never received a stimulus payment, the most common reason was that your mailing address with Social Security was outdated. Checks sent to an old address were returned to the IRS, which then held the money. You could recover it in two ways: by filing a tax return for the year the payment was issued, or by contacting the IRS directly.

To file a tax return and claim the payment, you would report it on your 1040 form using the Recovery Rebate Credit. This worked for any year you had not yet filed. For example, if you did not receive your 2020 stimulus payments, you could claim them on your 2020 tax return when you filed it in 2021 or later. The IRS would then send you the money as a refund.

If you did not want to file a tax return, you could contact the IRS at 1-800-829-1040 and request a payment trace. The IRS would investigate where the check went and reissue it by direct deposit or paper check to your current address. This process took several weeks.

Stimulus payments and your SSDI benefit

Stimulus payments were not counted as income for SSDI purposes. This meant they did not reduce your monthly SSDI benefit, and they did not affect your ability to work under SSDI's work incentive programs. You could receive a $1,200, $600, or $1,400 payment and your next SSDI check would be exactly the same as it would have been without the stimulus.

The payments also did not count toward the resource limits that explore to Supplemental Security Income (SSI). However, SSDI and SSI are separate programs. If you received SSI instead of SSDI, the stimulus payment did count as a resource for the first month you received it, but SSI has a $2,000 resource limit, so a one-time payment could have pushed you over that limit temporarily. Most SSI recipients were protected by a temporary rule that excluded stimulus payments from the resource count, but the rule was time-limited.

For tax purposes, stimulus payments were not taxable income. You did not report them on your tax return as income, and they did not increase your tax liability. If you filed a tax return and claimed the Recovery Rebate Credit for a payment you never received, that credit reduced your tax or increased your refund, but it was not treated as income.

SSDI recipients who were incarcerated or deceased

If you were incarcerated when a stimulus payment was issued, you were not supposed to receive it. The IRS was supposed to cross-check its records with the Bureau of Prisons database, but the process was not perfect. Some incarcerated people received payments by mail, which were then intercepted by prison staff or returned. If this happened to you, the IRS may have pursued recovery, though enforcement was inconsistent.

If an SSDI recipient died before receiving a stimulus payment, the payment was not issued. However, if a payment was mailed and the recipient died before cashing it, a family member could not deposit the check. The check would eventually be returned to the IRS as unclaimed. The deceased person's estate could not claim it on a tax return either, because the stimulus was a personal benefit tied to the individual.

Stimulus payments and work incentives

If you were using SSDI work incentives like the Plan to Achieve Self-Support (PASS) or Impairment Related Work Expenses (IRWE), a stimulus payment did not interfere with those programs. The payment was not counted as earned income, so it did not reduce your work incentive deductions or affect your trial work period.

This was important for people who were in the middle of a PASS plan or using IRWE to offset work earnings. A stimulus payment could be saved or spent without triggering a benefit reduction. Some people used stimulus money to pay for work-related expenses that may have access to under IRWE, such as assistive technology or transportation costs related to employment.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I still claim a stimulus payment I never received?

Yes, but only if you file a tax return for the year the payment was issued. You claim it using the Recovery Rebate Credit on your 1040 form. You can file a return for any prior year you have not yet filed. The IRS will send you the payment as a refund. You can also contact the IRS at 1-800-829-1040 to request a payment trace, though that process is slower.

Did stimulus payments reduce my SSDI benefit?

No. Stimulus payments were not counted as income for SSDI purposes, so they did not affect your monthly benefit amount. Your next SSDI check was the same whether or not you received a stimulus payment.

What if I received a stimulus payment but I was not supposed to?

The IRS has not systematically pursued recovery of stimulus payments from SSDI recipients. If you received a payment in error, you can return it to the IRS, but you are not required to do so. If the IRS contacts you about an overpayment, you should respond with documentation of your SSDI status at the time the payment was issued.

Do I have to report stimulus payments on my taxes?

No. Stimulus payments are not taxable income and do not need to be reported on your tax return. However, if you did not receive a payment you were may have access to to, you can claim it using the Recovery Rebate Credit, which reduces your tax or increases your refund.

What if I moved and Social Security did not have my new address?

Your stimulus check was mailed to the address Social Security had on file. If you had moved, the check was returned to the IRS. You can recover the payment by filing a tax return for that year and claiming the Recovery Rebate Credit, or by calling the IRS at 1-800-829-1040 to request a payment trace and have the money reissued to your current address.