If you immigrated long ago and didn't get your stimulus checks, check your Social Security card

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Even if you have been a US citizen or green card holder for decades, if your Social Security card says "Not Valid for Employment" on it, you are not eligible for the stimulus check, and you are also not eligible to claim the stimulus credit on your tax return, unless you get your Social Security record updated before the tax filing deadline (including extensions).

If you got your Social Security card as a citizen, permanent resident, asylee, or refugee, it will not have any restriction text on it. If you got it as a nonimmigrant who was authorized to work, it would say "Valid for Work only with DHS/INS authorization", which is also okay for the stimulus. However, if you got it when you were not authorized to work, it would say "Not Valid for Employment" on it, and this is not eligible for the stimulus. It is rare to issue Social Security Numbers to people who are not authorized to work now, but my understanding is that back before ITINs existed, they more often issued "Not Valid for Employment" SSNs to people not authorized to work who needed to file tax returns. So if you came to the US before the mid-90s, as a dependent nonimmigrant who wasn't authorized to work, filing taxes with someone who was authorized to work, there is a good chance that you got a "Not Valid for Employment" Social Security card. You might have neglected to update your Social Security card when you got your green card or citizenship, since it is not obvious it needs to be updated, and it has no effect on most things -- you can still use your green card or US passport for the I-9 when starting a job, and it didn't affect your ability to file a tax return and claim tax deductions and credits until now.

The IRS Get My Payment tool would just show "Payment Status Not Available" for someone who is not eligible, making it impossible to tell whether the IRS is just missing data on your stimulus, or whether they have determined you are ineligible for some reason, unless you bothered to call the IRS and wait on hold for hours. The problem is that a US citizen or green card holder who would otherwise be eligible for the stimulus and didn't get it, and perhaps saw the message "Payment Status Not Available", would assume that it was just some technical fluke (which has been quite common) and they can simply claim it on their tax return, as that has been the messaging from the government and tax software, etc. Almost nobody has mentioned that the Social Security card could be a problem that could prevent you from getting the credit, and if you don't update it before the tax filing deadline, you will lose the eligibility for the first two stimulus payments forever, so by the time you get denied the credit it will be too late to fix it.

[HRQX 4,145]

5 hours ago, newacct said:

and you are also not eligible to claim the stimulus credit on your tax return, unless you get your Social Security record updated before the tax filing deadline (including extensions).

Has the IRS publicly stated that it cannot be claimed at tax time if the card isn't fixed? Because the underlying laws (CARES Act and Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021) just say "valid identification number"  "the term ‘valid identification number’ means a social security number":

https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/3548/text

https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/133/text

Edited February 13, 2021 by HRQX

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2 hours ago, HRQX said:

Has the IRS publicly stated that it cannot be claimed at tax time if the card isn't fixed? Because the underlying laws (CARES Act and Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021) just say "valid identification number"  "the term ‘valid identification number’ means a social security number":

https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/3548/text

https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/133/text

The laws actually say that the term valid identification number means

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a social security number (as such term is defined in section 24(h)(7))

 

26 USC 24(h)(7), which deals with the Child Tax Credit for, says

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No credit shall be allowed under this section to a taxpayer with respect to any qualifying child unless the taxpayer includes the social security number of such child on the return of tax for the taxable year. For purposes of the preceding sentence, the term “social security number” means a social security number issued to an individual by the Social Security Administration, but only if the social security number is issued—

(A) to a citizen of the United States or pursuant to subclause (I) (or that portion of subclause (III) that relates to subclause (I)) of section 205(c)(2)(B)(i) of the Social Security Act, and

(B) before the due date for such return.

 

 

Section 205(c)(2)(B)(i) of the Social Security Act, which is 42 USC 405(c)(2)(B)(i), says:

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In carrying out the Commissioner's duties under subparagraph (A) and subparagraph (F), the Commissioner of Social Security shall take affirmative measures to assure that social security account numbers will, to the maximum extent practicable, be assigned to all members of appropriate groups or categories of individuals by assigning such numbers (or ascertaining that such numbers have already been assigned):
(I) to aliens at the time of their lawful admission to the United States either for permanent residence or under other authority of law permitting them to engage in employment in the United States and to other aliens at such time as their status is so changed as to make it lawful for them to engage in such employment;
(II) to any individual who is an applicant for or recipient of benefits under any program financed in whole or in part from Federal funds including any child on whose behalf such benefits are claimed by another person; and
(III) to any other individual when it appears that he could have been but was not assigned an account number under the provisions of subclauses (I) or (II) but only after such investigation as is necessary to establish to the satisfaction of the Commissioner of Social Security, the identity of such individual, the fact that an account number has not already been assigned to such individual, and the fact that such individual is a citizen or a noncitizen who is not, because of his alien status, prohibited from engaging in employment;

Subclause (I) corresponds to Social Security Numbers issued to permanent residents and other aliens authorized to work in the US, i.e. with Social Security cards that either have no legend or say “Valid for work only with DHS/INS authorization”. Subclause (II) corresponds to Social Security Numbers issued to aliens to are not authorized to work in the US but need an SSN to claim some benefit, i.e. with Social Security cards that say “Not valid for employment”. So basically, to be eligible for the Recovery Rebate Credit, the Social Security Number needs to have been issued as not "Not valid for employment" before the tax filing deadline. (By the way, in order to claim the Child Tax Credit since 2018, the child must also meet this same requirement of having an SSN "valid for employment" issued before the tax filing deadline.)

 

IRS has officially described this on both the tax forms and online FAQs. The 2020 form 1040 Line 30 Recover Rebate Credit instructions says,

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Generally, you are eligible to claim the recovery rebate credit if in 2020 you were a U.S. citizen or U.S. resident alien, weren't a dependent of another taxpayer, and have a valid social security number.

It later defines "valid social security number" as:

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A valid social security number is one that is valid for employment in the United States and is issued before the due date of your 2020 return (including extensions).

 

In the Recovery Rebate Credit FAQ for eligibility, it says:

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Q B1. Eligibility Requirements: What are the eligibility requirements for the credit? (added February 5, 2021)
[...]

You are not eligible for the Recovery Rebate Credit if any of the following applies:
• You do not have a Social Security number that is valid for employment issued before the due date of your 2020 tax return (including extensions).
[...]
Q B5. Social Security number (SSN) Valid for Employment: What is meant by an SSN that is valid for employment? (added February 5, 2021)
A5. A valid SSN for the Recovery Rebate Credit is one that is valid for employment in the United States and is issued by the Social Security Administration (SSA) before the due date of your 2020 tax return (including an extension to October 15, 2021, if you request it).

 

There the "valid for employment" links to the page from the Social Security Administration describing the 3 types of Social Security cards, one of which is “Not Valid for Employment”, so it means one of the other 2 types is needed to qualify for the credit.

 

 

[HRQX 4,145]

39 minutes ago, newacct said:

26 USC 24(h)(7), which deals with the Child Tax Credit for, says

Ok. So LPRs with such card are clearly ineligible but IMHO it looks like a gray area in the case of naturalized citizens. "is issued—(A) to a citizen of the United States or pursuant to subclause (I) (or that portion of subclause (III) that relates to subclause (I)) of section 205(c)(2)(B)(i) of the Social Security Act, and (B) before the due date for such return."

 

Also if class action litigants that are LPRs, naturalized citizens, or both are affected they could challenge the current implementation by referencing the intent of Congress when quickly drafting both laws. I.e. it wasn't Congress intent to specifically exclude certain citizens and LPRs (that have been tax payers and legally employed for many many years) based only on a legacy quirk.

Edited February 13, 2021 by HRQX

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37 minutes ago, HRQX said:

Ok. So LPRs with such card are clearly ineligible but IMHO it looks like a gray area in the case of naturalized citizens. "is issued—(A) to a citizen of the United States or pursuant to subclause (I) (or that portion of subclause (III) that relates to subclause (I)) of section 205(c)(2)(B)(i) of the Social Security Act, and (B) before the due date for such return."

 

Also if class action litigants that are LPRs, naturalized citizens, or both are affected they could challenge the current implementation by referencing the intent of Congress when quickly drafting both laws. I.e. it wasn't Congress intent to specifically exclude certain citizens and LPRs (that have been tax payers and legally employed for many many years) based only on a legacy quirk.

But the thing is, the SSN was not "issued to a citizen" because they were not a citizen at the time it was issued, so it depends on how you interpret that sentence I guess.

 

Also, neither the IRS nor the SSA knows your current immigration or citizenship status, and the tax return does not ask for your immigration or citizenship status, so it would be very hard for them to determine your eligibility if it depended on your current status.