Please note: On June 16, 2020, the IRS issued an alert which included the following information;

• "The payments are intended for the recipients, even if a nursing home or other facility or provider receives the person's payment, either directly or indirectly by direct deposit or check."
• "An EIP is not such a benefit; the EIP belongs to the Social Security or SSI beneficiary."
• "...Economic Impact Payments do not count as resources that have to be turned over by benefit recipients, such as residents of nursing homes whose care is provided for by Medicaid."

Congress recently passed H.R. 748, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, authorizing economic impact payments to many Americans in the form of tax credits. 

The Ohio Department of Developmental Disabilities (DODD) advises against county boards of developmental disabilities recouping the economic impact payments, made to people with developmental disabilities, for payment of past room and board.

Although OAC 5123:2-3-11, permits county boards to “recoup earned income and unearned income received by an individual from a non-routine event (e.g., social security back payment, tax refund, or inheritance) for payment of past room and board,” the payments are intended to provide emergency relief to Americans. Recoupment of the economic impact payments is inconsistent with other provisions of the CARES Act and Ohio law. 

The CARES Act specifically prohibits the government from withholding most federal and state debts from the economic impact payments. 

Additionally, Ohio law protects “a payment in compensation for loss of future earnings of the person or an individual of whom the person is or was a dependent” from attachment, garnishment, and execution (ORC 2329.66(A)(12)(d)). The Ohio Attorney General determined that economic impact payments under the CARES Act are exempt from debt collection efforts under this law. Read Ohio Attorney General guidance. 

To ensure consistency with federal and state law, DODD recommends that county boards do not attempt to recoup the economic impact payments so the funds can be used to support people with developmental disabilities as intended.