IRS extends time for $500 per child stimulus payments

The Internal Revenue Service is giving taxpayers more time until Nov. 21 to register their dependents for the $500 per child Economic Impact Payments provided under the CARES Act.

The Internal Revenue Service is giving taxpayers more time until Nov. 21 to register their dependents for the $500 per child Economic Impact Payments provided under the CARES Act.

The IRS said Monday that it’s extending the time to give people who were unable to provide their information earlier. Under the CARES Act that was passed by Congress in March in response to the economic fallout from the novel coronavirus pandemic, the IRS sent out $1,200 to each taxpayer, plus an additional $500 per child. It originally relied on information from taxpayers’ 2018 and 2019 tax returns, but since in many cases the information was missing, out of date or incomplete, the IRS set up a portal where taxpayers could register their information.

An estimated 9 million people haven't yet received an Economic Impact Payment. The IRS needs to send out the stimulus by the end of the year. It is extending the timeline for registering until 3:00 p.m. ET on Nov 21. The deadline had been Sept. 30 until the latest extension.

CORONAVIRUS IMPACT: ADDITIONAL COVERAGE
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Janice Stoudemire, CPA, CGMA, ABA, ATA, currently serves as a CPA content specialist for UWorld Roger CPA Review. Reach her at jstoudemire@uworld.com.

Siddhartha Jha is the Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Arbol, an insurtech and global climate risk solutions platform. Sid is also a co-founder of dClimate, the first decentralized climate information ecosystem. Before Arbol and dClimate, he had over 13 years of experience in the financial industry, covering interest rates and commodities in quantitative research and trading roles. He launched an agriculture futures trading portfolio, managing over $100 million at a major commodity trading firm. He was the first analyst at a startup commodity hedge fund, which grew to manage over $600 million in assets. He was previously a Vice President of Interest Rates Strategy at J.P. Morgan.

Sid authored the well-received book "Interest Rate Markets," published in both English and Mandarin. He has taught financial markets at NYU and was on the board of a non-profit working with inner-city youth. Sid graduated from Harvard University with a B.A. Cum Laude in Applied Mathematics and M.A. in Statistics as part of a 4-year combined degree program.

Jason Ewas is a policy manager at the Aspen Institute's Financial Security Program.

Following recent IRS programming updates, anyone who registers using the Non-Filers: Enter Info Here before the 3 p.m. Eastern Nov. 21 extended due date will receive an Economic Impact Payment, if they’re eligible. That includes federal beneficiaries who already received an EIP but didn’t receive a supplemental $500 payment for qualifying children.

The IRS headquarters in Washington
The IRS headquarters in Washington.
Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

The additional time will enable them to enter the information on their qualifying children using the Non-Filers tool on IRS.gov.

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Those who are eligible to provide this information include people with qualifying children who receive Social Security retirement, survivor or disability benefits, Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Railroad Retirement benefits and Veterans Affairs Compensation and Pension (C&P) benefits and did not file a tax return in 2018 or 2019.

The IRS is also encouraging anybody who didn’t have a requirement to file a tax return in 2018 or 2019 to register for an Economic Impact Payment by using the Non-Filers tool before the Nov. 21 deadline. The IRS originally didn’t have information on many of these taxpayers, so it was unable to send them the initial round of stimulus payments.

The IRS is encouraging people to choose direct deposit to receive their payments, as it will speed up processing when using the Non-Filers tool. Those who don’t choose this option will get a check in the mail instead. Starting two weeks after they register, people can track the status of their stimulus payments using the Get My Payment tool, accessible from IRS.gov.