The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has issued a special alert that Social Security and Railroad Retirement recipients who enter information on the IRS portal by noon Eastern time on April 22, 2020 can get the $500 per dependent payment at the same time as their individual stimulus payment. After noon Eastern Time on April 22, 2020, Social Security recipients the will no longer be available to enter dependent information. After noon Eastern time on April 22, 2020, Social Security and Railroad Retirement recipients will only be able to get the $500 per dependent payment by filing a tax return and the $500 per dependent payment will be issued sometime after the $1,200 individual payment.
SSI and VA benefits recipients will have more time to enter dependent information into the portal. Their deadline has not yet been determined. Note that a Social Security press release states that the deadline will be in April. After that deadline, SSI and VA benefits recipients will need to file a tax return to get the $500 per dependent payment. (IR 2020-76, April 20, 2020.)