advance child tax credit - doubled-up?

[hcmetz]

Married filing jointly. We have received three checks for $325 each for the advance child tax credit in 2021. I have deposited these, fully assuming I make too much, and will have to pay back. Fine. However, the IRS sent us TWO notices, of $975 each for my wife and me, although we only received $975 total. Obviously, if I enter that, TurboTax adds them up and tells me we have received $1,950, and I have to pay more.

Were the other $975 already applied by the IRS in the back somewhere? Or am I being double-dinged?

Thank you.

[JamesG1 · Accepted solution]

The IRS will expect you to report the $1,950 as advance payments.  To avoid processing delays, on your tax return, it will be necessary to enter what the IRS reported to you.

However, notify the IRS by Form 3911 that the $975 was not received.  IRS FAQ states:

My payment was issued but I did not receive it.  What can I do?

You can request a payment trace to track your payment if you have not received it within the timeframes below. We will not be able to trace your payment unless it has been:

• 5 days since the deposit date and the bank says it hasn't received the payment 
• 4 weeks since the payment was mailed by check to a standard address 
• 6 weeks since the payment was mailed, and you have a forwarding address on file with the local post office 
• 9 weeks since the payment was mailed, and you have a foreign address

To start a payment trace, mail or fax a completed Form 3911.

[Edited 02/23/2022 1:51 PM PST]

@hcmetz 

[hcmetz]

Thank you.

I severely doubt that any payment got lost. I’m near 100% certain that they never sent any more than those 3 checks. I think they just doubled up because if married filing jointly.

Case in point; the checks carried both my wife and my names on them.

Besides, those payments went out October through December 2021, plus the trace only helps if they a actually did send something out at all.

[AmyC]

You still want to start a trace. Something is definitely wrong. The IRS letters to others show only half of the total sent. Yours shows the full amount for each. That is not matching up with the rest of the nation. To start a payment trace, mail or fax a completed Form 3911.

[nuclear1990]

Same thing happened to me, I received 3 checks written to both myself and my wife, but seems like they are claiming separate checks went to me and my wife, so we both got letters.  I'm sensing a scam.  I owe a lot of money and I'm tempted to just put the real amount we received and then do the trace.  That way the problem is on their side to resolve.

[RobertB4444]

The IRS has a webpage to research how much they believe that they sent you.  It is possible that the letters got duplicated and that the only mistake was mailing two.  

Go to this web page and check the information here on what the IRS believes that they have sent you.... If it matches what you actually received then the letters were a mistake.  If it matches the letters then the IRS made a mistake in the payments that they issued and you should initiate a trace.

[nuclear1990]

Both my wife and I signed into the IRS online account through ID.me, and verified they had 1000 for both of us under advanced child tax credit.   I only received 3 checks of 333$ totaling 1000 only, not 2000.  The checks were written to both me and my wife, as I had to have her endorse as well as me.  They are incorrect in what they say they sent us.    1) since I owe over 10K, is there much harm in just reporting the real amount of 1000 vs the 2000, I will just pay them 1000 less.  I can still do the trace form, but I feel better if I hold the money and not them.  2) would this cause an audit or any other punitive action by the IRS.  3) will the return be rejected?

[RobertB4444]

1.  The only harm is the interest and penalties that they will charge on the thousand dollars that they say you owe - and those will disappear if your trace turns up the fact that the money was owed to you all along.

2.  No.  You're going to get bills in the mail.  And while this won't trigger an audit there is never any guarantee that you won't be audited.

3.  The return will not be rejected for the incorrect child tax credit amount.  Processing will take longer.  Which won't matter much since you owe them money.