The Third Stimulus Check Was Sent in 2021 and Is No Longer Available

The third stimulus payment—officially called the Economic Impact Payment—was distributed between March and December 2021. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) sent checks to roughly 169 million households. If you received SSDI in 2020 or filed a 2020 tax return, you were automatically included in the payment run; the IRS did not require a separate request.

SSDI recipients who were may be able to access received $1,400 per adult and $1,400 per dependent child. If you did not receive a payment in 2021 and believed you were may have access to to one, the important date to claim it on your 2021 tax return was April 15, 2022. That window has closed. No new third stimulus payments are being issued.

Key Takeaways

  • The third stimulus payment was distributed in 2021 only; no payments are being sent now.
  • SSDI recipients were automatically included if they received benefits in 2020 or filed a 2020 tax return.
  • If you did not receive a payment and missed the 2021 tax return important date, you cannot recover it through the IRS.
  • Some SSDI recipients who were in representative payee situations may not have received their payment if the payee kept the funds.

Who Automatically Received the Third Payment

The IRS used Social Security Administration records to identify SSDI recipients. If you were on the SSDI rolls in 2020, your payment was mailed or deposited automatically—you did not have to do anything. The IRS sent payments to the same bank account or address where your regular SSDI payments went.

SSDI recipients who were not yet on the rolls in 2020 but filed a 2020 federal income tax return were also included. The IRS cross-checked tax filing records with Social Security records to catch people who had recently begun receiving benefits or who had recently left the program.

If you were incarcerated during the payment period, you were not sent a payment. The IRS excluded people in federal, state, or local custody. If you were released before the payment run reached your case, you may have received it after release.

What Happened If You Had a Representative Payee

If someone else—a family member, social worker, or organization—was your representative payee in 2020, the stimulus payment was sent to that person's name, not yours. The payee was legally responsible for using the money for your current maintenance and needs. In practice, many payees did use the funds correctly. Some did not.

If your payee kept the money and you did not receive it, you had the right to file a complaint with the Social Security Administration's Office of the Inspector General. That complaint window is now closed. If you believe your payee misused the funds, you can still report the misuse to Social Security, which may investigate and change your payee arrangement, but you cannot recover the stimulus money itself through that process.

If You Did Not Receive a Payment in 2021

The primary reason SSDI recipients did not receive a third stimulus payment was that they were not on the Social Security rolls in 2020 and did not file a 2020 tax return. If that was your situation, you had until April 15, 2022, to claim the payment on your 2021 federal income tax return using IRS Form 1040 and Schedule 1.

A smaller number of people did not receive payments because of processing errors—mail delivery problems, incorrect bank account information, or data matching failures. If you fell into this group and filed a 2021 tax return claiming the payment, the IRS would have issued it as a refund or credit. If you did not file a 2021 return and did not claim the payment, that opportunity has passed.

You can check the status of any stimulus payment you may have received by visiting the IRS website and using the "Get My Payment" tool, though that tool is no longer active for new inquiries. Your 2021 tax return transcript, which you can order from the IRS, will show whether you claimed the payment and whether the IRS processed it.

How the Third Payment Affected SSDI and Other Benefits

The stimulus payment did not count as income for SSDI purposes. Receiving $1,400 did not reduce your monthly SSDI check, and it did not trigger a work incentive review. Social Security treated the payment as a one-time transfer, not earned or unearned income.

The payment did count toward your resources if you also received Supplemental Security Income (SSI). SSI has a $2,000 resource limit for individuals and $3,000 for couples. If the stimulus payment pushed you over that limit, your SSI could have been suspended until your resources fell back below the threshold. However, the IRS and Social Security issued guidance allowing recipients to spend down the payment without penalty during a grace period. Many states also temporarily raised resource limits or suspended enforcement.

The payment did not affect Medicare or Medicaid. It was not taxable income and did not change your tax filing status for those programs.

What to Do If You Have Questions About Your Specific Payment

If you received the third stimulus payment and have questions about whether it was correct, contact the IRS directly. You can call 1-800-829-1040 (the main IRS line) or visit IRS.gov. Have your Social Security number and the year in question ready.

If you believe you should have received a payment but did not, and you did not file a 2021 tax return to claim it, you cannot recover the payment now. The important date has passed. If you filed a 2021 return and claimed the payment but never received it, the IRS should have issued it as a refund. Check your 2021 tax transcript to confirm whether the IRS processed your claim.

If you have questions about how the payment affected your SSDI or SSI, contact Social Security directly at 1-800-772-1213 or visit your local Social Security office. Bring documentation of the payment if you have it—a bank statement showing the deposit, a check image, or your 2021 tax return.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I still get the third stimulus payment if I missed the important date?

No. The important date to claim the payment on your 2021 tax return was April 15, 2022. If you did not file a return by that date and claim the payment, you cannot recover it. The IRS is not issuing new payments or extensions for this stimulus round.

What if my representative payee spent my stimulus payment on themselves?

You can report the misuse to Social Security's Office of the Inspector General or to your local Social Security office. Social Security may investigate and change your payee. However, you cannot recover the money itself through this process. If the amount is large, you may have civil or criminal remedies through a lawyer, but those are separate from the Social Security system.

Did the third stimulus payment affect my SSDI check?

No. The payment did not count as income and did not reduce your monthly SSDI benefit. If you also received SSI, the payment may have temporarily affected your SSI if it pushed your resources over the limit, but most states allowed a grace period to spend it down.

How do I know if I received the third stimulus payment?

Check your bank records or mail from March through December 2021. You can also order your 2021 tax return transcript from the IRS at IRS.gov, which will show whether you claimed the payment. Call the IRS at 1-800-829-1040 if you need help locating the payment.