There was no fourth stimulus check in 2022

The federal government issued three rounds of stimulus payments during the pandemic: in April 2020 ($1,200), December 2020 ($600), and March 2021 ($1,400). No fourth payment was authorized by Congress in 2022 or after. Some proposals circulated in 2021 and 2022 for additional payments, but none became law.

If you received payments in the first three rounds and are on SSDI, you got them automatically—the Social Security Administration sent them to the bank account or address on file with your benefit record. You did not have to take any action to receive them.

The confusion around a "fourth check" often comes from state-level payments or tax refunds that some states issued in 2022 to offset inflation. These were separate from federal stimulus and varied by state. Some people also confused stimulus checks with other federal payments like the expanded Child Tax Credit (which ended in December 2021) or the enhanced unemployment insurance that expired in September 2021.

Key Takeaways

  • Congress authorized only three federal stimulus payments: April 2020, December 2020, and March 2021.
  • SSDI recipients received all three payments automatically if they had a bank account or mailing address on file with Social Security.
  • Proposals for a fourth federal stimulus check did not pass Congress in 2022 or later.
  • Some states issued their own inflation relief payments in 2022, which were separate from federal stimulus and varied by state.
  • If you did not receive one of the three federal payments, you could claim it on your 2020 or 2021 tax return using IRS Form 1040 or 1040-SR.

How SSDI recipients received the three stimulus payments

Social Security and the IRS coordinated to send stimulus payments to SSDI beneficiaries without requiring them to file a tax return or take any other action. The Social Security Administration used the bank account information already in its system—the account where your monthly benefit is deposited—to send the payment electronically. If Social Security did not have a bank account on file, the payment was mailed as a check to your address of record.

This automatic process meant that most SSDI recipients received all three payments between April 2020 and April 2021 without doing anything. You did not need to contact Social Security, file a form, or verify your identity beyond what was already in the system.

The timing of each payment varied slightly depending on how Social Security processed the information. Some recipients received payments within days of the announcement; others waited a few weeks. The IRS also issued payments directly to people who filed tax returns, which created some overlap, but the system was designed to avoid sending duplicate payments.

What to do if you did not receive a stimulus payment

If you were on SSDI during one of the three payment periods and did not receive a check, you could claim the missing amount on your federal tax return. The IRS called this the Recovery Rebate Credit. You would file your tax return for the year the payment should have been sent (2020 for the first two payments, 2021 for the third) and claim the credit on Form 1040 or Form 1040-SR.

To claim the credit, you needed to report that you did not receive the payment and calculate how much you were owed. The IRS provided worksheets and instructions with the tax forms. If you did not normally file a tax return because your income was too low, you still had to file one to claim the credit—it was the only way to recover the money.

The important date to claim the Recovery Rebate Credit on your 2020 return was April 18, 2022. For the 2021 return, the important date was April 18, 2023. If you missed those important date, you could still file an amended return using Form 1040-X, but the IRS could not process amended returns after a certain point. Contact a tax preparer or the IRS directly if you missed the original important date and want to know whether you can still claim the credit.

State stimulus payments in 2022 and after

Several states issued their own payments to residents in 2022 and 2023, often framed as inflation relief or tax refunds. These were not federal stimulus checks and were not connected to SSDI status. Instead, they were based on state tax filings, residency, or income thresholds that varied by state.

States that issued payments included California, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, New Mexico, and others. Some required you to file a state tax return; others sent payments automatically to people who had filed in the previous year. The amounts ranged from a few hundred dollars to over $1,000, depending on the state and your income level.

If you lived in a state that issued a payment, you would have received information by mail or through the state's tax agency website. These payments were not related to federal SSDI and did not affect your benefit amount or Medicare or Medicaid coverage.

Why no fourth federal stimulus check was passed

After the third stimulus payment in March 2021, several members of Congress proposed additional payments. Proposals ranged from one-time checks of $1,000 to $2,000 to recurring monthly payments. However, none of these proposals gained enough support to pass both the House and Senate and reach the President's desk.

The main arguments against a fourth payment centered on inflation concerns, the cost to the federal budget, and disagreement over whether additional stimulus was necessary as the economy reopened and employment recovered. By late 2021 and into 2022, the focus of federal spending shifted to other priorities, including infrastructure and student loan relief.

Some advocates for people with disabilities and low incomes continued to push for additional payments, arguing that inflation hit fixed-income beneficiaries especially hard. However, Congress did not authorize any new stimulus checks after March 2021.

How stimulus payments affected SSDI and other benefits

The three stimulus payments did not count as income for purposes of SSDI, Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Medicare, or Medicaid. This meant that receiving a stimulus check did not reduce your monthly benefit, increase your Medicare premiums, or affect your Medicaid coverage.

However, if you received SSI (a separate program from SSDI for people with low income), the stimulus payment could have affected your SSI benefit if you had not spent it by the end of the month you received it. SSI has strict resource limits—you can have no more than $2,000 in countable resources—and unspent stimulus money counted toward that limit. If the payment pushed you over the limit, your SSI benefit would have been suspended until you spent the money down.

SSDI beneficiaries did not face this problem because SSDI has no resource limit. The stimulus payment was yours to keep or spend without affecting your benefit.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I still claim a stimulus payment I missed from 2020 or 2021?

Yes, but only by filing a tax return and claiming the Recovery Rebate Credit. The original important date were April 2022 (for 2020) and April 2023 (for 2021). If you missed those important date, you can file an amended return using Form 1040-X, though the IRS may have time limits on how far back you can amend. Contact a tax preparer or the IRS for help.

If I'm on SSDI, do I have to report stimulus payments to Social Security?

No. Stimulus payments are not considered income for SSDI purposes and do not need to be reported to Social Security. They do not affect your monthly benefit amount or your may be able to access for Medicare or Medicaid.

What if I received a stimulus payment but I wasn't on SSDI at the time?

You were still may have access to to the payment if you met the income and citizenship requirements. The payment was based on your tax return or income, not on your benefit status. If you received it, you do not need to return it.

Are there any other federal payments coming for people on SSDI?

Congress has not authorized any new federal stimulus or relief payments since March 2021. However, SSDI beneficiaries do receive annual cost-of-living adjustments (COLA) to their monthly benefit, which are announced each October and take effect in January. You can check the Social Security website for the current year's COLA percentage.

How do I know if my state issued an inflation relief payment?

Contact your state's tax agency or revenue department website. They will have information about any payments issued in your state, who was may be able to access, and how to claim one if you missed it. You can also search online for "[your state] inflation relief payment" or "[your state] tax refund 2022" to find details.