IRS: Federal beneficiaries to get relief checks starting April 7

The Treasury Department said Tuesday that recipients of Social Security and other federal benefits should receive their third direct relief payments by April 7 after nearly a month of delays.

The department said the IRS is on track to deliver stimulus checks to most of roughly 30 million Americans who’ve yet to obtain them by next Wednesday after processing and reviewing 2021 income information the agency received last week.

“After receiving data from the Social Security Administration on Thursday, March 25, the IRS began the multi-step process to review, validate, and test tens of millions of records to ensure eligibility and proper calculation of Economic Impact Payments,” the department said.

“If no additional issues arise, the IRS currently expects to complete that work and to begin processing these payment files at the end of this week. Because the majority of these payments will be disbursed electronically – through direct deposits and payments to existing Direct Express cards – they would be received on the official payment date of April 7.”

Those receiving payments via check or prepaid debit card will likely receive their payments after April 7.

Millions of Americans who depend on Social Security, veterans benefits and railroad pensions have spent weeks waiting for the relief checks authorized by President Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus aid plan.

While the IRS was able to disburse more than 100 million payments soon after Biden signed the bill on March 11, the Social Security Administration’s delay in sending income data to the agency prevented the distribution of checks to federal beneficiaries.

Under pressure from House Democrats, the Social Security Administration turned over that information to the IRS last week, which said it would begin processing the data and lining up payments to eligible recipients.