Social Security News

Apr 15, 2020

Trump Administration Relents -- SSI Recipients Will Get Stimulus Payments Without Need To File "Tax Return"

From a press release:

The Social Security Administration announced today that Supplemental Security Income (SSI) recipients will automatically receive their Economic Impact Payments directly to their bank accounts through direct deposit, Direct Express debit card, or by paper check, just as they would normally receive their SSI benefits. Treasury anticipates SSI recipients will receive these automatic payments no later than early May.

“SSI recipients with no qualifying children do not need to take any action in order to receive their $1,200 economic impact payment. The payments will be automatic,” said Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin. “Recipients with qualifying children should use the ‘Non-Filers: Enter Payment Info Here’ web portal to enter basic information so they can receive their payments as quickly as possible.” ...

This means that SSI recipients with children as well as those with pending disability claims who have not filed a tax return for 2018 or 2019 still need to file the "tax returns" but that's a much smaller problem.

An Economic Simulus Question

Let me ask a question that probably won’t get answered here. Let’s say a disabled person has a Title II Social Security disability claim approved next month. He hasn’t already gotten an economic stimulus payment previously because he didn't file a tax return in the last two years. Will he get an stimulus payment once he gets on Social Security benefits? The question is whether the Treasury Department will just look once for Title II beneficiaries eligible to receive economic stimulus payments or whether it will continue to pay attention to those newly entitled. I'm guessing the Treasury won't pay attention to those newly entitled to Social Security benefits but we'll see. I'll bet that no one at Treasury has even though about this issue. It's going to affect thousands of disabled people each month and some non-disabled people filing for retirement and survivors benefits as well.

Apr 14, 2020

SSI Claimants Will Have A Lot Of Trouble Getting Economic Stimulus Payments

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.

Apr 13, 2020

First Circuit Rules That Puerto Rico Residents Can Be Paid SSI

The First Circuit Court of Appeals has issued an opinion in the case of U.S. v. Vallelo-Madero holding that it is an unconstitutional denial of equal protection to refuse to pay Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits to qualified residents of Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico residents are citizens of the United States but since the beginning of the program ineligible for SSI. If they move to a state, however, they can get the benefit.

The background of the case is interesting. Vallelo-Madero was receiving SSI while living in New York but then moved to Puerto Rico. Apparently, he didn't tell Social Security he had moved but they somehow found out later. It looks as if they did a criminal investigation but eventually decided not to bring charges. Instead, they did something they rarely do, they filed a civil suit to try to collect the overpayment. It was at this point that he raised the defense that his SSI never should have stopped so there wasn't an overpayment.

Social Security can now ask all the judges of the First Circuit Court of Appeals to hear the case en banc or they can ask the Supreme Court to hear the case or they can give up and start paying SSI to all eligible applicants living in Puerto Rico. I don't think this Administration is going to pay SSI to a bunch of brown skinned people if it can avoid it. However, if Joe Biden is elected President in November and this case is still pending as I expect it will be, he may decide to accept the First Circuit opinion and start paying SSI to eligible people living in Puerto Rico.

SSI Recipients Must File Tax Returns To Get Stimulus Payments

It's now official. If you're an SSI recipient who is not also receiving benefits under Title II of the Social Security Act, you must file a "tax return" in order to get the economic stimulus payments recently enacted. The "tax return" can only be filed online.

This is terrible. It's completely unnecessary. Social Security's databases already contain all the information needed to make the payments. Social Security's databases are already being used to pay those receiving Title II benefits.

This is a problem because many SSI recipients will never received the payment they are due because:

They don't know that they need to file a "tax return" and no one is making any meaningful effort to tell them.
They lack internet access.
They lack an e-mail address, which is required to complete the "tax return."
They can't figure out how to use the online form.
The "tax return" requirement is going to generate a lot of calls to Social Security at a time when the agency already hopelessly overburdened with calls.

Some may respond, wondering who lacks internet access and who lacks an e-mail address and who can't figure out how to complete the simple form. Many SSI recipients, that's who. If you actually deal with SSI recipients you already know this. If you don't, listen to someone who does. SSI recipients are far poorer, far less educated and far less sophisticated than most people can imagine.

Why is this requirement imposed upon SSI recipients? I can't think of a reason other than hostility towards poor people.

To respond to responses I know I'll get, of course SSI recipients haven't lost wages because of Covid-19. So what? Most people receiving the payments haven't lost income due to Covid-19. That's not the point of the payments.