Veteran Service Groups join forces to insure veterans get their relief checks

Senators, VSOs to VA: Work with IRS to ensure all veterans get federal $1,200 relief checks

Connecting Vets
ABBIE BENNETT
APRIL 03, 2020

Not all veterans or their beneficiaries file annual taxes. But the government plans to primarily use prior tax filings to determine eligibility and where to send the federal coronavirus relief payments.

Leading Veterans Affairs lawmakers in the Senate and top national Veteran Service Organizations are calling on the Department of Veterans Affairs to ensure that all eligible veterans can receive federal relief checks during the coronavirus pandemic.

Senators Jerry Moran, R-Kansas, and Jon Tester, D-Mont., who lead the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, urged the VA Under Secretary for Benefits Dr. Paul Lawrence to create a plan between VA and the IRS to ensure veterans and other VA beneficiaries who don't have to file tax returns still get the checks without additional red tape.

VSOs representing millions of veterans nationwide also sent a letter to VA and the Treasury Department urging them to take "whatever actions necessary to identify and electronically pay" the relief to veterans who do not file tax returns. Those groups included: Disabled American Veterans, Veterans of Foreign Wars, The American Legion, Paralyzed Veterans of America, AMVETS, Vietnam Veterans of America, Military Officers Association of America, Fleet Reserve Association, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, Wounded Warrior Project, Blinded Veterans of America and the Military Order of the Purple Heart.
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