If your only income has been Social Security you did not need to file a tax return and doing so even if you claim a dependent would not get you a refund----with ONE exception.
If you did not file a return for 2021, you could still do that and claim your mother as a dependent (if she was in fact your dependent in 2021) and you could get the 2021 recovery rebate credit of $1400 for claiming a dependent. That was the amount of the third stimulus payment that you could get for yourself or for any dependent you claimed on your tax return for 2021. You would need to file (or amend) a 2021 return no later than April 15, 2025 or it will be too late. The return has to be mailed.
TurboTax does not know who will receive the stimulus checks that the IRS is sending. The IRS has identified some people who were eligible for the 3rd EIP payment who did not receive it and did not use the recovery rebate credit on their 2021 tax returns, so the IRS is sending out those payments. You should check your online account with the IRS---many people received the 3rd stimulus before they filed their 2021 return, so they did not need to use the credit on their tax return.
Look at your online account with the IRS to see if they sent you $1400 in 2021.
https://www.irs.gov/payments/your-online-account
If you could be claimed as someone else's dependent in 2021, you are not eligible for the payment.
If you were eligible and do not receive a payment soon from the IRS, the other way to get the payment is to amend your 2021 return to use the recovery rebate credit before April 15, 2025. If you did not file a 2021 return at all, then prepare one and mail it in.
2021
https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1040gi.pdf
Here is the IRS 2021 Form 1040
https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-prior/f1040--2021.pdf
or if you want bigger type use 1040SR for Seniors,
https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-prior/f1040s--2021.pdf
And 2021 Instructions
https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-prior/i1040gi--2021.pdf
2021 Tax and EIC Tables
https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-prior/i1040tt--2021.pdf
Sch 1 : https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-prior/f1040s1--2021.pdf
Sch 2 : https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-prior/f1040s2--2021.pdf
Sch 3 : https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-prior/f1040s3--2021.pdf
**Disclaimer: Every effort has been made to offer the most correct information possible. The poster disclaims any legal responsibility for the accuracy of the information that is contained in this post.**
