The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has issued a special alert that SSI and VA benefits recipients must register on the IRS portal by May 5, 2020 to get the $500 per dependent payment at the same time as their individual stimulus payment. After May 5, 2020, Social Security recipients the IRS portal will no longer be available to enter dependent information for SSI and VA benefits recipients. After May 5, 2020, SSI and VA benefits recipients will only be able to get the $500 per dependent payment by filing a 2020 tax return in 2021. Note that the IRS did not say when on May 5 the portal would close for SSI and VA benefits recipients registering to get the $500 dependent payment.
For Social Security and Railroad Retirement recipients, the deadline to register on the IRS portal to get the $500 dependent payment was April 22. Social Security and Railroad Retirement recipients who missed that deadline can only get the $500 dependent payment by filing a 2020 tax return in 2021. (IR 2020-81, April 24, 2020.)