My wife and I both received Letter 6419 from the IRS, with instructions to report the Advance Child Tax Credit that we received in 2021. Where do we enter this info?

[rjhornby]

If both my letter and wife's  letter were for the exact same dollar amount showing, and same number of dependents, do I need to enter just 1 of the letter's information into TurboTax, or do I need to enter both identical amounts, if filing jointly.

[Vanessa A]

You need to enter both letters exactly as they are.  The amount of each of your letters should be half of the total amount received each month. 

[Ryan58]

I had not received Letter 6419 as of yesterday, but filed anyway because I used the IRS portal to see the exact amounts of received credits. When entering the amounts for my spouse and myself, I asked Turbo Tax Live chat if I needed to enter the full amount in my box and zero for my spouse, or half and half. The Live chat rep told me to enter the full amount in mine and zero for my spouse.  E-filed last night. Well, today I received the Letter...and my wife received a Letter. Half and half. Hopefully no delays because the total amount is correct, even though entered incorrectly in the boxes, but I fear there will be problems. Any thoughts from anyone?

[RobertB4444]

@Ryan58 No worries!

As long as the total amount that you entered on your joint return is correct then then your bottom line will be correct regardless of which spouse you put the amounts under.

[Critter-3]

If you look on the form 8812 it only reports the AGGREGATE of the total you and your spouse got combined ... so as long as you entered the total in some way everything will be fine.    The program asks for it separately only because  that is how the IRS reports it and they don't want to confuse the user.  

[rjhornby]

Not an exact answer.

The Turbo Tax software has a space to enter what is showing on the IRS form that has my name, and a separate field for my wife, but I think I need to see how much money was paid out to me (via my bank acct) to find out the total of what was paid.

If I was paid 4000, for example, and my letter said 2,000, and my wife said the same, I need to enter both.  But if our letters said 4,000 on both, and we only got paid 4,000, I believe I only have to enter this value into one field in the software.

[Ormsbyrob]

OK thanks. Yes mine’s  the same dilemma. Trying to be proactive but I don’t have my form(s) 6419 yet. I know ,via the portal ,what we received total,  just wondering if I should split that amount, One for the box with my name and one for the box with my spouse’s name.

thank you for the quick reply

[DMarkM1]

Yes,  this question was answered by @TomK100 earlier.  Here is a ink with more information on entering Advanced Child Tax Credit information. 

If you received Advanced Child Tax Credit payments between Jul-Dec 2021 you will get an IRS letter 6419.  If you are married, your spouse will receive a letter as well. You must add/enter the amounts for both letters on a joint return to arrive at the proper amount of advanced child tax credit.   

[Curbin200]

Here is the dilemma. July and August we received ONE payment jointly into our bank account. Then Sept-Dec they sent us separate payments which equaled the Total for the month. However in each of our child tax portal it shows the July and August payments under both of our accounts even though we received ONE deposit for this. So what’s gonna be on the letter and portal is $3000 more than we were actually paid. This will reduce our 2022 child tax money by $3000 which is incorrect. Please advise how we report and handle to not delay the refund. 

[xmasbaby0]

@Curbin200

Federal>Deductions and Credits>You and Your Family>Child Tax Credit

The IRS is sending out letter 6419 to you.  It will show the amount of advance child tax credit that you received during 2021.  Enter the information from that letter carefully.   The remaining amount of CTC that you can receive will show up on line 28 of your 2021 Form 1040.

PREVIEW 1040

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1901539-how-do-i-preview-my-turbotax-online-return-before-filing

Click on Tax Tools on the left side of the screen. Click on Tools. Click on View Tax Summary. Click on Preview my 1040 on the left side of the screen.

NOTE:   The CTC is indeed a “credit” that can be applied toward any tax liability that you would otherwise have to pay as “tax due”  to the IRS.

[Curbin200]

Shows this 

me July - $1500   Wife - $1500

me Aug $1500.     Wife - $1500

me Sept - $938.    Wife - $938

me Oct - $687.      Wife - $687

me Nov - $688.     Wife - $688

me Dec - $687.     Wife - $687

problem is we only received ONE $1500 payment in our bank acct for July/Aug. the next four payments were split from our bank acct and a check in mail made out to wife. The reporting amounts are $3000 more than we actually received. You understand what I’m saying???

[xmasbaby0]

Where are you getting those amounts?   Use the LETTER from the IRS.

[Curbin200]

From the child tax portal for each of us. The irs child tax portal says These listed amounts will match up with letter 6419. Even TurboTax says “You can gather this information one of two ways”!

1. ”letter 6419”

2. IRS child tax portal with listing amounts. 

[DianeW777]

Yes, confirm your total actual amounts received by each of you and use that information on your tax return.  Be sure to keep all of the information from your bank deposits and the IRS letter. 6419.

If the IRS does not agree with your figures they may reject the return through the e-file. IF so, and you are confident in your numbers entered on the tax return you should mail your tax return.  Include both of your verification documents and the IRS letter (a copy, keep yours for your records).TurboTax will provide the information necessary to mail your tax return.

[Curbin200]

Mailed returns are typically 6-8 weeks after electronic returns. We are in a financial crisis and can’t wait that long. It’s extremely frustrating that an IRS reporting issue in a joint account situation would prevent us from receiving our refund in timely manner. I’m almost tempted to just submit the 6419 letter amounts and go after the $3000 after the fact.