La Crosse, WI—Today, Reps. Ron Kind (D-WI) and Mike Kelly (R-PA) sent a letter to Department of Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and Internal Revenue Service Commissioner (IRS) Charles Rettig demanding that veterans receiving pension benefits automatically be eligible to receive the individual rebate included in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. Guidance issued by the IRS last week has created unnecessary obstacles for hundreds of thousands of veterans who do not have to file annual taxes. The guidance would require extra paperwork for veterans who mainly rely on pension benefits they earned while serving their country in order to receive their rebate.

Kind and Kelly are asking that the Treasury and IRS coordinate with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to ensure that VA beneficiaries who do not file annual taxes are not required to file a supplementary form in order to receive it.

“Veterans who rely on benefits that they earned should not be placed at a disadvantage due to unnecessary bureaucratic obstacles. It is clear that congressional intent was to get the individual rebates to all Americans, particularly veterans, as quickly and seamlessly as possible,” Reps. Kind and Kelly wrote. “By requiring these veterans to submit a supplementary form, we fear that some will be left behind. Many veterans are at high-risk of severe and life-threatening symptoms from COVID-19, and older veterans may not be able to access a computer to submit the form if they rely on public computers to access the internet.”

Read the full letter to the Treasury and IRS here

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