Third EIP Overpayment

[ChanceJC]

     For the third EIP, my SO and I have been overpaid. If it matters, we are not married. I received $4,200; $1,400 for myself, $1,400 for my SO, and $1,400 for our daughter, based on my 2020 tax filing, where I claimed both of them as dependents, as my SO didn't have any income during 2020. My SO also received $2,800; $1,400 for herself, and $1,400 for our daughter, based on her 2019 tax filing, where she claimed our daughter. A lot of what I've been able to find, such as COVID Tax TIP 2020-62, from the irs.gov site, and the following post from these forums: https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/taxes/discussion/i-filed-taxes-for-18-but-now-stay-at-home-my-boyf... indicates that I don't need to return the overpayment, and will not be punished for failing to do so.

     I want to do the right thing, but I've also spent four hours on hold, and was transferred several times while on the phone with the IRS, just to be hung up on without getting this resolved. That was also after I'd spent two days trying to call them, only to be rejected by the automated system telling me they couldn't process all of the calls they were receiving, so if I don't need to waste more time trying to get it sorted with the IRS, I'd rather not.

     With all that said, do I need to keep calling them to get this sorted, or are we in the clear?

[fanfare]

Once it is in your hands, IRS cannot claw it back.

If you want to return it,

write a check payable to "US Treasury"

put your name, SSN and phone number.

and write "Return EIP3 to Treasury" on the check.

[fanfare]

A dependent on another's tax return cannot claim a dependent.

Nor can the same dependent be claimed twice.

[ChanceJC]

In 2019 my SO was independent, and that's why she claimed our daughter. It was only this last year, after she lost her job near the end of 2019, that I claimed her as a dependent. I'm bad at describing things. Sorry. lol

[Slowmo76]

Forgive me if this comes out wrong fanfare, but how do you know this?  I find myself in a much simpler situation but had extra money deposited in my account today.  I am not sure how to proceed.  Your answer of course make me very happy, but i don't want to end up in jail.  Can you provide me any links or references to information, please.

[JamesG1]

This IRS FAQ I received a third economic impact payment.  Do I need to pay back some or all? states:

No, there is no provision in the law that would require individuals who qualify for a Third Economic Impact Payment or an additional payment based on their 2020 or 2019 information, to pay back all or part of the payment if, based on the information reported on their 2021 tax returns, they would have qualified for a lesser amount.

The third economic impact payment will be reconciled on the 2021 tax return.