American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA) $250 - Economic Recovery Payment (ERP) Procedures

The IRS riminds us that it cannot provide information as to whether a taxpayer received the $250 Economic Recovery Payment (ERP).  That information must be obtained from each pf the the individual agencies

Taxpyers do not have to file a tax return to get the Economic Recovery Payment (ERP). If a taxpayer has not received their ERP, they should contact the applicable payer agency listed below for more information about the $250 payment.

Background:  Between May and August 2009, the Social Security Administration, Department of Veterans Affairs and the Railroad Retirement Board issued a one-time Economic Recovery Payments (ERP) of $250 ($500 MFJ if both taxpayers qualify) to qualified recipients.  Do not confuse the ERP with the government retiree credit , a taxpayer must file to get the "government retiree credit". 

Instructions on How to Prepare Tax Returns with ERP: Nearly 53 million Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) beneficiaries received a one-time payment of $250 each. To receive a payment, the beneficiary's address of record must be in one of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, or the Northern Mariana Islands.

Individuals who were eligible for Social Security, SSI, Veterans, or Railroad Retirement benefits at any time during the months of November 2008, December 2008, or January 2009 are eligible for the one-time payment.  The IRS expects tax preparers to ask the client if the payment was received.  If it was received, the preparer next needs to address the questions on  Form 1040, Schedule M.  If the taxpayer is uncertain about receipt of the $250 payment, the IRS suggests that a preparer refer the client to the appropriate payer agency listed below for more information.

None the the agencies below will accept a Form 2848. Your client will need to call.

Agency Contacts :

Agency Issuing the ERP	If taxpayer Received (Type of Payment)	Phone Number	Other Comments
Social Security Administration	Social Security Benefits or Supplemental Security Income (SSI)	1-800-772-1213	One-time payment sent in May separate from monthly SS check (paper and electronic) Payment will not show on 1099 SSA statement.
Department of Veterans Affairs	Disabled Veterans Benefits	1-800-827-1000	Payments delivered between June and August.
Railroad Retirement Board	Railroad Retirement Benefits	1-877-772-5772 (then push 0 to be connected to local office)	TP should review bank statements between May and August. They will look up the payment. Callers must have their RRB number

Note: If the taxpayer had an address change, the payment may have taken longer to arrive.

How to respond to the reject codes:

The following reject and error notice codes are applicable to the ERP. All rejects must be corrected and re-filed within the required timeframe as outlined in Publication 3189, Volunteer e-file Administration Guide. If rejects cannot be resolved, the taxpayer must be contacted and if necessary, a paper return must be filed.  Reject Codes 1130-1136 have been assigned to ERP.

ERP reject and error codes:
Below are reject and error codes associated with the ERP. The notice will have information about the error and may not require additional action. However, the taxpayer may need to contact the applicable agency for further assistance on the payment.

E-file Reject Codes:
1132	ERP on 1040/1040A Schedule M does not match agency payment amount issued
1133	ERP was not reduced from MWP
Error Notice Codes:
652	No qualifying income
654	Wrong tax year
654	Wrong form
655	IRSN, ineligible
656	Invalid primary SSN
657	ITIN, ineligible
658	Invalid secondary or Primary SSN
659	TP is dependent on another return
660	Credit denied; AGI too high
661	Credit figured for TP
662	Credit limited because of AGI
663	Credit changed because of low income
664	ERP not included in calculation
665	Incorrect ERP used to calculate credit
667	Error in calculating or transferring credit