Yesterday we published a blog explaining who gets the economic impact payment (stimulus check) from the IRS. Since that post, there have been quite a few people concerned about who doesn’t get a check. In this post, I will focus on three groups of adults that won’t get a stimulus check.
Adults who exceed the AGI limitations
As mentioned in the previous post, there are AGI limitations as to who gets the stimulus check. Adults who filed a 2019 or 2018 return and exceeded the AGI limitations will either get a reduced stimulus check or even no stimulus check. Below are the AGI cutoffs for the three types of tax filers.
| Type of filer | AGI limit for full check | AGI limit for reduced check |
| Individual filers | $75,000 | $99,000 |
| Head of household filers | $112,500 | $136,500 |
| Married couples filing joint | $150,000 | $198,000 |
Dependents over the age of 16
The only dependents that will get a stimulus check are qualifying dependents age 16 or younger. And those stimulus checks of $500 will go to the adult that claimed those dependents as qualifying children on their tax return. That means to get the qualifying child stimulus check, a tax return claiming that child must have been filed in the tax year 2019 (or 2018 if 2019 was not submitted).
Anyone claimed as a dependent that is over the age of 16 will not receive any stimulus check. College students who are still claimed by their parents are the adults that will likely be impacted by this policy. But, the person claiming that college student is likely already getting a much more extensive education credit or deduction on their regular tax return.
There are many other occasions where adults will claim other adults on their tax returns. Some other examples of adults claiming other adults as dependents include (but are not limited to): people taking care of disabled persons, people claiming a girlfriend/boyfriend they are taking care of, and people taking care of a parent. In all of these cases, the adult being claimed as a dependent will not receive a stimulus check. Additionally, the person claiming the other adult will not receive the extra $500 qualifying child payment because that person being claimed is not under the age of 17.
People without Social Security numbers
Generally speaking, those without a social security number will not be eligible for the stimulus check. The IRS is using each adult’s tax return (1040), social security tax form (SSA-1099), or railroad retirement form (RRB-1099) to determine eligibility for the economic impact payment. A social security number is used in each of these forms to identify individuals.
Also, if a couple filed a joint tax return, and one of them did not have a social security number, neither of those people will get a stimulus check. This policy could negatively impact a taxpayer who has recently married someone from a foreign country, and that spouse has not yet received a social security number. There is an exception to this policy, which allows military families to receive the stimulus check still.
Some of the above policies may change
It should be noted that qualifications may change. Initially, only those filing tax returns in 2019 or 2018 were eligible for the stimulus check. After heated feedback, the IRS reinterpreted the law passed to qualify social security and railroad retirement recipients. The IRS could conceivably reinterpret parts of the code again and change the eligibility requirements. Congress could also pass an updated stimulus package, which in turn may modify eligibility for the stimulus check. If any changes are made to the economic payment program, we will continue to pass that information along.
