Moving toward paperless benefits

New recipients of Social Security and other federal benefits will receive their payments electronically, without exception, starting in May, the Treasury Department announced Tuesday.

The Obama administration is pushing to make most government benefits payments paperless by 2013, including most federal pay stubs.

The change will eventually affect about 136 million payments sent by the Social Security Administration, Department of Veterans Affairs, Railroad Retirement Board and Office of Personnel Management.

The move should cut about $48 million a year in government postage costs and save taxpayers about $303 million in the first five years after the switch, Treasury officials said. The change also should eliminate fears of lost or stolen checks and some problems faced by people displaced by natural disasters or home foreclosures.

Those already receiving Social Security payments and other federal benefits will have until March 1, 2013, to make the switch to direct deposit or a debit card.