Economic recovery payments of $250 will be sent to more than 52 million persons currently receiving Social Security, and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits beginning in early May 2009 and continuing throughout the month, according to the Social Security Administration.
No action on the part of the recipient will be required to get the one-time payment, which will be sent separately from the person’s regular monthly benefit payment.
Here are the details of the one-time $250 economic recovery payment provided for under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009:
- A one-time payment of $250 will be sent to adult Social Security beneficiaries, and to SSI recipients, except those receiving Medicaid in care facilities.
- To receive the payment the individual must be eligible for Social Security or SSI during the months of November 2008, December 2008 or January 2009.
- Children under the age of 18 (19 if still in high school) who receive Social Security benefits are NOT eligible for the one-time payment. However, adult children who receive disability benefits on a parent's record will receive a payment.
- Disabled children receiving SSI are eligible for the one-time payment.
- The one-time $250 payment to SSI recipients will NOT count as income. However, Social Security beneficiaries who are also working full time may face a tax liability due to President Obama’s $400 Making Work Pay, workplace tax cut. Contact the IRS for help.
- The one-time payments will be received in the same way the recipients currently get their regular Social Security of SSI benefits.
- The Social Security Administration expects that all eligible recipients will have received the payment by late May 2009. The Social Security Administration requests that you not contact them about your payment unless you do not receive it by June 4, 2009.
- For more information about the one-time payments, you can visit Social Security’s Economic Recovery One-Time Payments Information web page.
In addition, persons receiving benefits from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) or Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) may be eligible for one-time payments of $250. Those payments are to be handled by the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Railroad Retirement Board.
