To get a Covid-19 economic stimulus payment if you receive SSI benefits without also receiving Title II Social Security benefits you have to file an online "tax return" unless you happened to have already filed a tax return in the last couple of years. To file the "tax return" you have to have an e-mail address.
I think that filing even though this process seems simple to most that it will defeat many SSI recipients. I decided to pull up all my firm's active SSI only cases to see how many have an e-mail address. I looked at the first 100 that came up in alphabetical order by the client's name. Of that 100, only 43 had an e-mail address.
You might think that getting a G-mail account is simple and something that's necessary for modern life but most of my SSI clients haven't done it. Why? Many lack internet access. Many have mental limitations that make online transactions impossible for them. I'm not necessarily talking about cognitive limitations, although there's plenty of that in this population. Depression and anxiety make it hard to overcome even slight obstacles.
I hope that many SSI claimants can overcome the hurdle that has been placed in their path, perhaps with help from others, but this hurdle shouldn't have been there to begin with. This online form is unnecessary. Social Security's databases already contain all the information needed to make these payments. No one has even tried to defend this cumbersome process as necessary.
This is ridiculous. The SSA presumably has already vetted SSI recipients to obtain direct deposit. Another hurdle is just nonsense. If you want to deny this stimulus, then do it. But do not come up with some arbitrary hurdle. Smh.
ReplyDeleteThis is awful. They have gone back and forth on this, but this just means they don't want to give this money to SSI recipients. The majority of my SSI claimants do not have email accounts.
ReplyDeleteIt's good that there is a portal for some situations (SSI recipients who haven't filed tax returns but have dependent children) but agreed that SSA and the IRS should be able to data share on the typical cases and pay the stimulus automatically.
ReplyDeleteAre you offering assistance to the SSI claimants so they get the stimulus?
ReplyDeleteIts criminal the way the treasury dept and IRS are treating SSI recipients .Particularly those without dependents who are having a hard time trying to get by on $783 a month .
ReplyDeleteThey have our information available to them through SSA .What is so difficult for them about getting it ?
I have no doubt that they would rather not give us a dime of the stimulus money and all the hurdles they've put up are very intentional