When Will Seniors, Others on Social Security Get COVID Stimulus Payments?
By Kelly Tyko

More stimulus checks are on the way through direct deposit and the mail.
The Internal Revenue Service and US Treasury said Monday that the next batch of Economic Impact Payments will be issued this week with many coming as paper checks or prepaid debit cards. Some direct deposits began processing Friday with an official pay date of Wednesday, March 24.
Additional payments are expected to be released on a weekly basis going forward, the IRS said in a news release.
“The IRS continues to send the third round of stimulus payments in record time,” IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig said in a statement. “Since this new set of payments will include more mailed payments, we urge people to carefully watch their mail for a check or debit card in the coming weeks.”
If your first two stimulus checks came as paper checks, it is possible you will get a direct deposit this time.
"The vast majority of taxpayers receiving EIPs will receive it by direct deposit. In addition, the IRS and the Bureau of the Fiscal Service leveraged data in their systems to convert many payments to direct deposits that otherwise would have been sent as paper checks or debit cards," the Treasury said in a news release. "This accelerated the disbursement of these payments by weeks."
Last week, the IRS said it had sent out coronavirus relief checks to more than 90 million Americans under the initial round of payments made under President Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan.
Get updates on the status of your next stimulus payment using the IRS "Get My Payment" tool.
Before you start entering your information hourly, the IRS says the tool “updates once per day, usually overnight” and that people should not call the IRS. "Our phone assistors don't have information beyond what's available on IRS.gov,” the agency says.
The third round of Economic Impact Payments will be based on a taxpayer’s latest processed tax return from either 2020 or 2019. That includes anyone who used the IRS non-filers tool last year, or submitted a special simplified tax return.
Social Security and other federal beneficiaries will generally receive this third payment the same way as their regular benefits, the IRS said. But a date hasn’t been announced yet for when payments are expected for individuals who receive benefits but didn’t file taxes in 2019 or 2020 and also didn’t use the IRS’s Non-Filer tool.
On updated details about the third stimulus payments, the IRS said again Monday that updates on the timing of "payments for federal beneficiaries, including non-filing beneficiaries with a Direct Express card, is expected soon."
The IRS says more stimulus checks are expected to be sent out this week and in coming weeks.
How to use IRS 'Get My Payment': The "Get My Payment" tool is available at www.irs.gov/coronavirus/get-my-payment. To use it, you'll need to enter your full Social Security number or tax ID number, date of birth, street address and ZIP code.
For those who are eligible, the tool will show a "Payment Status" of when the payment has been issued and the payment date for direct deposit or mail, according to the IRS' frequently asked questions.
Not everyone who is eligible will have a payment date under "Payment Status" when they log in initially, the IRS said. According to the agency, the tool will be updated when the payment date is known.
'Payment Status Not Available' or 'Need More Information': Some will get a message that says "Payment Status Not Available."
"If you get this message, either we have not yet processed your payment, or you are not eligible for a payment," the IRS said. "We will continue to send the 2021 Economic Impact Payment to eligible individuals throughout 2021."
And others will get a "Need More Information" message when using the tool if the payment was returned to the IRS because the post office was unable to deliver it for another reason.
If your address has changed the IRS says the easiest way to update is to "file your 2020 tax return with your current address, if you haven’t already done so. Once we receive your current address, we will reissue your payment."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Stimulus check 2021: IRS says next batch of COVID payments coming soon

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