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Social Security Recipients WON'T Have To File Taxes To Get Coronavirus Stimulus Checks

Social Security beneficiaries won’t have to file tax returns in order to receive the coronavirus relief payments, the Trump administration announced Wednesday in a quick reversal of an earlier position.

“Social Security recipients who are not typically required to file a tax return need to take no action, and will receive their payment directly to their bank account,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a news release.

Millions of Americans, including many receiving Social Security retirement and disability benefits, aren’t required to file federal returns because their incomes are so low they don’t owe federal taxes.

The vast majority of Americans are eligible for the $1,200 rebate Congress authorized last week, but on Monday the Internal Revenue Service announced everyone would have to file a tax return to receive the money.

Since then, dozens of Social Security beneficiaries told HuffPost they were unable to file online using the free services linked from IRS.gov ― presenting a major obstacle to their getting the benefits.

Sue Bohl, a 63-year-old Social Security Disability Insurance recipient in De Pere, Wisconsin, said she tried filing a tax return on Friday and wasn’t allowed to finish the form because she had no taxable income.

“Since my printer isn’t working, I’m not able to print it out to send it in,” she said. “It’s hard for me, because I don’t think it’s smart to be going out to do anything right now, so I’m stuck!”

Fifteen million households didn’t file taxes in 2019, according to the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, and since Monday concern mounted that many would struggle to do so in order to receive the coronavirus payments.

House Ways and Means Committee chairman Richard Neal (D-Mass.) said his office had been “inundated” with phone calls from Social Security beneficiaries confused and upset about the policy. He demanded that Mnuchin change the policy and use other data sources to...

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