IRS stimulus checks update: When will Social Security, SSID, and VA recipients receive third payments?

It’s been 10 days since the Internal Revenue Service began processing the third round of stimulus checks, but many Americans who receive federal benefits are still waiting for their payments—or, at least, they’d like an update on when they can expect to get paid.

People who receive Social Security retirement benefits, survivor or disability benefits (SSDI), Railroad Retirement benefits, Supplemental Security Income (SSI), or Veterans Affairs benefits are eligible for the payments that were authorized as part of the American Rescue Plan Act, even if they don’t file a tax return. The IRS has said that most of these recipients will receive the third stimulus checks via the same method that they received the first and second checks.

However, social media was flooded Monday with complaints from beneficiaries who say they’re still waiting, with many wondering why the IRS has not yet communicated a timeline.

Reached for comment, an IRS spokesperson had no immediate information on the timeline, but said the agency would announce “when that wave of payments will go out.” Fast Company will update this post with the latest information as soon as it becomes available.

The IRS along with the U.S. Treasury said last week that they have already distributed 90 million Economic Impact Payments. Most of the first batch of payments were sent via direct deposit, but an estimated 150,000 payments were also sent by mail.

The $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, signed by President Joe Biden on March 11, authorizes direct payments of up to $1,400 for individuals and $2,800 for couples, plus $1,400 for dependents.

Update, Monday, 2:50 p.m. ET: 

The IRS announced that it has processed a new batch of stimulus checks, which will have a payment date of Wednesday, March 24. In the update, it did not offer any new specifics about when federal benefits recipients could expect to receive payment. However, it sounds like it’s still working out the details. Here’s the relevant piece of the update:

“The IRS is working directly with the Social Security Administration, the Railroad Retirement Board, and the Veterans Administration to obtain updated 2021 information for recipients to ensure it is sending automatic payments to as many people as possible. More information about when these payments will be made will be provided on IRS.gov as soon as it becomes available.”