To amend or not amend re: Recovery Rebate Credit

[dwayneduke]

Hi folks. I filed my return (married jointly) before the American Rescue Plan Act was signed, my spouse and I both received unemployment benefits in excess of $10,200 during 2020.

Our daughter was born in 2020 so I need to claim the missed economic impact payments for eligible children ($500 from round one plus $600 from round two). When I try to amend my return through turbotax it automatically updates my additional refund for the new unemployment credit, however I have read that since the IRS is going to do this automatically I could drastically increase the time it takes to receive this refund by filing an amended return.

Will the IRS automatically include the missed economic impact payments along with the unemployment benefit refund? I don't want to cause undue delays by amending if I don't have to. My options are A). wait and see what the IRS does or B) roll the dice and amend now. If I choose the wait and see approach, will I miss the opportunity to claim the Recovery Rebate Credit if it takes longer than the May 17th deadline? What say you wise community members?

[DMarkM1 · Accepted solution]

I recommend waiting for the IRS to process your original return and deposit your updated refund.  You will not miss the opportunity to claim the missed credits.  You have up to 3 years from the due date plus extensions to file for any refunds including refundable credits such as the Recovery Rebate Credit.  

Filing an amendment now does run the risk of confusing the issue with the different versions that may be applicable. (Original return, IRS corrected return, TurboTax updated return, and amended return)  If you wait for the IRS to complete processing and correcting then you can use/adjust your TurboTax updated version to match that and then amend from there. 

[Jimbar]

In reviewing my updated return after turbo tax updated the 10200 reduction for unemployment my existing credits for federal recovery rebate and my American opportunity credit went up as well.    Will the difference also be sent to me by IRS without a amended return as well?   I read if turbo tax asked you about these rebates on your original return that you would get the updated refund without an amendment but I want to make sure since I already e filed my return over a month ago.  My new refund is more than double what my old one was.   

[VolvoGirl]

I would wait and see before you amend.  It may take awhile and the increased refund may come separately after the first original refund.