I accidentally marked "someone can claim" me as a dependent but no one did.

[morgantwebb401]

Quick question for everyone- I checked the "someone can claim me" box on my 2018 return, but was not claimed. I submitted my 2019 taxes on Monday, April 13th prior to checks being mailed out and did not check this box. My 2019 return is still being processed, but according to everything I've read, I qualify for the stimulus check based on my 2019 information. Should I be receiving a check once my 2019 return processes, or would the IRS have gone based off of my 2018 return? Thanks in advance. 

[NCperson]

@morgantwebb401  - in the end it will not matter - you'll get the money, but maybe not as quick as you hoped.

if the IRS uses 2018 tax return to assess your stimulus, as you note, you won't get the stimulus now..HOWEVER, 

• The stimulus payments are really based on your 2020 tax return (income, dependents, etc).
• The IRS is using either 2018 or 2019 – whatever is available  - to ESTIMATE that payment
• When you file next year there will be a “settle up” section on the tax return. 
• If you are due more stimulus (and this would include where you simply never received it), you will receive it through the 2020 tax filing.
• If you received too much, by law, you are not required to return it

so in the end, it's really your 2020 tax return to be filed next year that matters! 

suggest just sitting tight and maybe you;ll get lucky and they used 2019 tax return to assess your stimulus, but at least you know what Plan B is! 

https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/will-we-have-to-pay-back-stimulus-check-2020-4

[ligiaa15]

Following!! 26 and made this same mistake for the past 3 returns by hitting the auto fill option to save time filing my taxes. Haven’t been claimed by my parents in 3 years.

Please let me know any updates Regarding the stimulus etc! 

[NCperson]

@ligiaa15 - please read my prior post

it is unclear if filing an amendment will result in a stimulus payment immediately after the amendment is processed, so worst case is to get the stimulus as part of your 2020 tax return 

[ligiaa15]

@NCperson  Since I made the mistake for 3 tax returns it’s probably wise to amend the correct status anyway right? I am so confused with everything going on and just hoping they see I’m a 26 year old dependent with my own career. But thanks for all your info in the previous post.

[NCperson]

@ligiaa15 - for your normal tax return, it probably doesn't matter (in most cases) that you marked that you can be claimed on someone else's return.  it can affect your standard deduction, but if your income is over $12,000, it can't even effect that (and even if income is less than $12,000, for most people, that doesn't even matter but too technical for this post)

but what it is affecting is the ability to get the stimulus, because if you are a dependent on someone else's tax return, you are not eligible.  what we don't know is if the IRS is looking at that check mark or cross checking your social security number on another return (your parents??)  

if you can hold off until you file your 2020 tax return to obtain the stimulus, it will certainly get resolved there without any amendments.   

[anthokneez]

@taxingmangakan Where are you seeing this man.. I kinda accepted the fact I’m pretty much screwed 

[taxingmangakan]

@anthokneez I reached out to people on YouTube by leaving comments on stimulus check videos, explaining my situation and asking if anyone that has made the same mistake as us have gotten their checks. Two people have told me that they have, but a lot of others say they are in the same boat as us and haven't received anything yet.

[TommyC]

@taxingmangakan @anthokneez @iman42093 @amaxwell2191 UPDATE: I connected with a correspondent for a state congresswoman who got in touch with their IRS liaison, and they said more than likely the IRS will deduce that we are actually independent, and we will still get the payment. They are only halfway through the payments as of today and there are big groups of payments that are scheduled to go out in the next few weeks.

If you go to amend your tax return on TurboTax and change from "can" to "can't" be claimed, and you see no change in your federal return amount, that means that you were processed as an independent vs. a dependent. 

IF we slip through the cracks and still do not receive payment, then the correspondent told me to hold off on amending and either claim it as 2020 credit, which will be automatic eligibility, or wait for the IRS to direct other ways to go about it. The IRS is NOT accepting any paper amendments right now, so it may just complicate things further down the line. 

The IRS says there are a large group of people who are in this situation, so we will get the payment, it is just a matter of when! 

[iman42093]

@TommyC Appreciate you updating. I think it’s a good idea at this point to just wait until all the payments have supposedly gone out, and if it still hasn’t gone in, THEN amend your return. 

[amaxwell2191]

@TommyC  When I go to amend my return on turbo tax it asks me a bunch of generic questions, wage if I want to amend that etc... nothing I can do online about changing my status to an independent from dependent, but I can amend my status on the 1040x form. From what your telling me if turbo tax doesn't give me an option online to change my status than I was processed as a independent? Also I am still getting that "can't verify your eligibility" on the get my payment IRS app. Thanks for jumping through the hoops and getting in touch with the IRS!

[amaxwell2191]

Ask thought you couldn’t amend online through turbo tax, had to mail in 1040x?

[TommyC]

@amaxwell2191 So you can't actually explicitly change dependent to independent, I also think that's part of the problem with TurboTax is that they aren't clear what that question really means and what qualifies as "can claim" meaning that it will classify us that way. But essentially when you go and make a hypothetical amendment, update only your profile information at the very beginning. In that section is a question with "Can someone claim me as their dependent etc..." and if that says yes there should be a follow-up question as to whether someone actually will claim you. You simply edit that to you cannot be claimed, and then click yes through all the other information you entered when you first filed. At the end of amending, if there isn't any additional money that the federal government will be sending you, then it just means they processed you as an independent when they processed your return. In my case, the State would send me another 20 dollars because of a certain program, but my federal would not be different. That was part of the info he gave me, so really it's just a bummer because even if we are processed that way, the same cross-checking process has to take place for the impact payment. It's nothing definitive, we still are in the waiting game, but it's helpful to double-check because you know a little more about where you possibly stand in their system. 

[Javy_17]

The thing the concerns me ,is we don’t get this stimulus check we probably won’t qualify for the next stimulus that they are  talking about. We’ll probably miss out on the 2000 a month package.

[ligiaa15]

@TommyC this is some very valuable information! Thank you for the update.