The IRS announced Monday that it is giving certain recipients of federal benefits more time to register to get stimulus payments for their children this year.
Federal beneficiaries who already received payments of $1,200 for themselves but have not yet received $500 payments for their dependents under age 17 have until Nov. 21 to use the IRS’s non-filer web tool to claim the child payments, the IRS said. The previous deadline had been Sept. 30.
People who are eligible to take advantage of the new deadline to claim payments for children include recipients of Social Security, Supplemental Security Income, railroad retirement benefits and veterans’ benefits who did not file tax returns for 2018 and 2019. The IRS automatically issued payments earlier this year to adults who receive these benefits, but the recipients need to use the agency’s web tool in order to receive the additional amount for their children.
The IRS said in a statement that the new deadline follows “recent IRS programming updates.” The new deadline comes after the IRS previously extended the deadline for other non-filers — people who were not required to file tax returns for 2018 or 2019, typically because they have very low incomes — to use the web tool from Oct. 15 to Nov. 21.
The one-time direct payments were authorized in coronavirus relief legislation Congress passed in March. The vast majority of taxpayers received their payments this spring, and the IRS has been engaging in outreach efforts in order to try to get payments to those who are eligible but have yet to receive them.
People who don’t receive their payment this year can claim a credit when they file their 2020 tax returns next year.