How to return my daughter's Economic Impact Payments so I can claim her as a dependent

[SaveTheDonuts]

In 2020, my daughter (19 at the time) reported she wasn’t being claimed in order to receive the Economic Impact Payments. However, I was planning to claim her as a dependent on my 2019 tax return because she (age 18 during that time) has no income and lives with me all year. Do I need to return her Economic Impact Payments to the IRS before I can amend my 2019 return to claim her and also claim her in 2020?  If so, how would I go about returning her payments to the IRS?

[VolvoGirl]

She can keep it.  But sorry if she was over 17 in 2019 or 2020 you can't get the Stimulus payment for her at all.  Has to be under 17 on Dec 31, 2020.  And you can't amend 2019 for that anyway.  The Stimulus payments are reconciled on your 2020 return.  

[SaveTheDonuts]

Ah, good to know. Thanks for the info and quick reply. 

The main reason I wanted to claim her on my 2019 return was because I had to pull out a big chunk of my IRA. If I was able to claim her,  it would have reduced my tax payment.  My refund would have been double to triple over her stimulus payment.

But since she reported she wasn't being claimed as a dependent in 2019, I wasn't able to reduce my taxes by claiming her. I was thinking I could return her stimulus payment to the IRS, amend my 2019 return to claim her, and then essentially give her "stimulus payment" back to her using part of my refund. Would that be possible (or make sense)?

[Critter-3]

Amend your return and stop worrying what will happen to hers. 

[VolvoGirl]

No.  As I said she was too old for you to get the Stimulus for her.  And you can't get it by amending 2019.  You can only get it on your 2020 return but she is too old anyway.  You can amend to claim her and get the 500 credit for a dependent..

[SaveTheDonuts]

Sorry for the confusion. I'm not attempting to amend my 2019 return to get her stimulus payment.

I would like to claim her on my amended return to reduce my taxes. Being able to file as head-of-household, gives a refund from Fed and State that's far more than $500.

I don't want to amend my taxes by claiming my daughter and then the IRS turn around and charge her fees and interest for claiming the stimulus.

* I'm realizing I might have put this question under the wrong topic. Let me know if I should move it to "After You  FIle".