<<I told the IRS rep that I had read that I could claim the stimulus on behalf of my son since he was alive on 1/1/21, but the person on the phone said that was incorrect (which was obviously wrong). >>
last spring there was a lot of confusion and shifting rules about deceased individuals and whether they were eligible for the stimulus payments, so not surprising you may have received incorrect info. Originally, the 1st two stimulus payment rule was if you died before receiving the payment, your estate had to return the payment - that proved very difficult to administer so by the time of the 3rd stimulus payment (and retro to the 1st two), the rule was simplified to alive on 12/31/19 (for the 1st two stimuls payments) and alive on 12/31/20 for the third payment.
the estate is certainly eligible for the stimulus, the question is what is the easiest method to obtain it. Note getting through to the IRS on the phone is painstakingly difficult (and normally 'impossible') which is why I suggested just responding to the IRS letter you recently received and explaining the situation with the required documentation.
