I filed married filing separately and filed my return. I mistakenly checked the box, "someone can claim your spouse as a dependent" which is incorrect. Should I amend?

[KrisD · Accepted solution]

Not necessarily. 

By clicking that, you have allowed his/her social to be used on another Taxpayer's return. If your spouse e-files a return and claims his/her own social security number, no one else will be able to use that number. 

Because you did not forget a tax form or need to report additional tax, the IRS does not require you to amend the original. 

[mboardma]

I accidentally did this in 2018 (haven’t filed 2019 yet) Will this affect whether or not my husband receives a stimulus check?  One of us got ours and the other did not. I am worried that it impacted his check. 

[ThomasM125]

That won't affect your spouse. As long as he didn't indicate that he was someone's dependent he should get his stimulus check.

[aquinley0001]

Did you find a resolution to this problem? 

I can't for the life of me fathom why, but my wife and I both have this box checked on our returns, though certainly no one can claim either of us as dependent (and she has a teenaged dependent herself).  But neither of us have received a stimulus check and the IRS website says it cannot determine our eligibility and further states that if someone can claim you as a dependent (not stating that IF someone DID claim you as a dependent) that a person is ineligible.  I'm thinking these checked boxes may have created the problem.  

[sarahnesjie]

This happened to me as well. I never checked a box indicated that someone could claim my spouse as a dependent, yet it is inexplicably marked incorrectly on my tax return (and I did NOT receive a stimulus check). Not only that, but I can't figure out how to amend it.  Let me know if you figure anything out!

[mboardman24]

He did not get a stimulus check

[mboardman24]

I did not find a resolution so I just amended my return and wrote a letter because in the 1040x there is no where to correct that problem. And I did not check the box on my own. I feel like Turbo Tax made a mistake. 

[mboardman24]

Did you receive your stimulus checks?  I wrote a letter and sent an amended return but there is no where to “uncheck” the box so I explained the issue in the letter. Who knows if if will get resolved!  But I’m pretty sure it’s not my fault because I never would have checked that box. Maybe Turbo Tax should fix it for us!

[mboardman24]

He did not receive his check

[sarahnesjie]

I did not receive a stimulus check. I also went in to try to amend and there is NO button that I can unclick to fix the issue.  Sending a letter is a good idea.  I annoyed that I have to deal with this at all - definitely seems like a Turbotax issue.

[pcssunshine]

Is there any update on this issue as I have not received my stimulus check and I am not sure what to do.

[pcssunshine]

Can this affect payment of the stimulus check and if so what do I need to do.

Thank you.

[VictoriaD75]

You may need to amend your return, but the IRS is not processing paper returns at the moment. If there is a mistake on your tax return that has affected the amount of your stimulus payment, per the IRS:

If you did not receive the full amount to which you believe you are entitled, you will be able to claim the additional amount when you file your 2020 tax return.  This is particularly important for individuals who may be entitled to the additional $500 per qualifying child dependent payments. For VA and SSI recipients who don’t have a filing requirement and have a child, they need to use the Non-Filer tool (link) on IRS.gov by May 5 in order to have the $500 added automatically to their $1,200 Economic Impact payment. We encourage people to review our “How do I calculate my EIP Payment” question and answer (See question 11).

Economic Impact Payments

[Mschrock26]

I'm in the same boat. I have a feeling this is the problem. I did our taxes and for some reason that box was checked on both our returns and both of us haven't got our checks. Payment status unavailable unfortunately.