Some Railroad Retirement recipients must add dependent info with IRS to get $500 COVID payments

Railroad Retirement benefit recipients who have a qualifying child and didn’t file a 2018 or 2019 tax return have a limited window to register to have $500 per eligible child added automatically to their soon-to-be-received $1,200 COVID-19 payment, the Internal Revenue Service said Monday.
A quick trip to a special non-filer tool on IRS.gov by noon Eastern time, Wednesday, April 22, may help put all of their eligible Economic Income Payment into a single payment, the agency said in a news release.
“We want to ‘Plus $500’ these recipients with children so they can get their maximum Economic Impact Payment of $1,200 plus $500 for each eligible child as quickly as possible,” said IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig. “They’ll get $1,200 automatically, but they need to act quickly and register at IRS.gov to get the extra $500 per child added to their payment. These groups don’t normally have a return filing obligation and may not realize they qualify for a larger payment. We’re asking people and organizations throughout the country to share this information widely and help the IRS with the Plus $500 Push.”
If the Wednesday deadline is missed, RRB beneficiaries who don’t normally file a tax return and do not register with the IRS by April 22, will still be eligible to receive the separate payment of $500 per qualifying child. Their payment at this time will be $1,200 and, by law, the additional $500 per eligible child amount would be paid in association with a return filing for tax year 2020. They will not be eligible to use the Non-Filer tool to add eligible children once their $1,200 payment has been issued, the IRS said.
To read the full IRS release, please follow this link.