The Social Security Administration recently updated its guidance on pandemic-related financial assistance to make it more clear that these funds do not count as a resource for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) eligibility indefinitely. This clarification should help ensure that individuals receiving SSI who save pandemic-related financial assistance payments are not penalized. This fact sheet summarizes the pandemic-related payments that are excluded and includes information for individuals and advocates to reference in appeals.
As a reminder, pandemic-related financial assistance such as the three federal stimulus payments issued in 2020 and 2021 do not count as income for SSI, and they do not count as a resource for as long as the individual saves the payments. Two guidance documents from the Social Security Administration detail which pandemic-related payments are excluded (EM 20014 REV 5) and how these payments should be processed for SSI individuals (EM 21050 REV 3).
