Deductions & credits

Hi @Erikac282, Congratulations on your new baby!

If your baby was born in 2020, you were able to claim the 2020 Recovery Rebate Credit when you filed your 2020 tax return, even if you aren't required to file.  Per the IRS (Question A9.),

The first Economic Impact Payment did not include an additional amount for these children because the payment was based only on information from your 2019 or 2018 tax return. You may claim qualifying children born, adopted or placed into your foster care  in 2020 for the 2020 Recovery Rebate Credit and must file a 2020 tax return to claim the credit, if eligible.

To claim the credit, you must know the amount of the first and second economic impact payment that you received.  You can locate this information by setting up or logging into your Online IRS Account Information.

If you have already filed your 2020 Taxes and did not claim the Recovery Rebate Credit, you will want to amend your tax return to include your qualifying child if a valid social security number was issued by the Dec 31 of 2020.    The IRS defines a qualifying dependent as follows:

A child is your qualifying child if the following conditions are met:

• Relationship to the individual who’s eligible for the payment: The child is your son, daughter, stepchild, eligible foster child, brother, sister, stepbrother, stepsister, half-brother, half-sister, or a descendant of any of them (for example, grandchild, niece, or nephew).
• Child's age: The child was:
  • under age 19 at the end of the tax year,
  • under age 24 at the end of the tax year, a student, and younger than you, or
  • any age and permanently and totally disabled.
• Child's citizenship: The child’s a U.S. citizen, U.S. national, U.S. resident alien, or a resident of Canada or Mexico.
• Child's residency: The child lived with you for more than half of the tax year.
• Support for child: The child didn’t provide over half of his or her own support for the tax year.
• Child's tax return: The child doesn’t file a joint return for the year (or files it only to claim a refund of withheld income tax or estimated tax paid).

Note that the IRS indicated that the third economic impact payment issues in 2021 will be based on information from your 2020 or 2019 return.  If the IRS had received or processed your 2020 prior to the release, then that information would have been used to calculate your stimulus.  If not, then you may claim a 2021 Recovery Rebate Credit for the child, if eligible, on your 2021 Tax Return.

You can check the status of your Third Round Economic Impact Payment by clicking HERE

For more Questions & Answers regarding the Third Economic Impact, click HERE

@Erikac282 Hope this helps!  Again Congratulations!