IRS letter 6475 confusion

[KrisD15]

Letter 6475 SHOULD report what you were issued. 

If you feel it is incorrect, it is up to you to choose between reporting what the letter reported to you, or over-riding the system and entering what you feel is the correct amount. 

[fanfare]

This discussion is moot.

IRS is going to go by what they told you in the letter.

If you did not get what IRS says they  sent you, you have to consider it missing.

You can report a missing payment to the IRS .

follow instructions here:

https://www.irs.gov/faqs/irs-procedures/refund-inquiries/refund-inquiries-0

[stphfplt]

It isn't moot.  Turbotax assumes the amount was mailed or deposited simply because the IRS letter says a credit for the amount was "issued," and then Turbotax perfunctorily zeros out the $2800 which should be a credit to us.  I had to lie in Turbotax and say the amount in the IRS letter was the wrong amount.  I shouldn't have to lie to get the right amount placed in the right spot on my return.

If IRS had mailed us a check, they would have clearly stated that on their ARRA inquiry website.  They never claimed to have either mailed or deposited the amount. 

[VolvoGirl]

Letter 6475 is telling you how much they sent you last year for the 3rd Stimulus payment.  Not how much you are eligible for.  If you are married each spouse should get a letter for half.  So if you say no you got zero the IRS is still going to take it off line 30 and reduce your refund.  They use your bank if you got a refund deposited on a prior return or they mailed a check or debit card.  It might have been easy for you to miss a debit card and think it was junk mail.

Double check your bank statements and Check your IRS account (both accounts if married)

Your Online Account | Internal Revenue Service

If the IRS thinks they sent it to you but you didn't get it request a trace for a missing third Stimulus payment

https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/questions-and-answers-about-the-third-economic-impact-payment-topic-j-p...

[stphfplt]

When I went to the ARRA online inquiry it did not give a date when a check or card was mailed or a deposit made.  It simply showed the amount and "no further information is available," "check back later."  Checked back many times and the message never changed.  Then the website shut down.  This is the same message we got regarding the second payment.  That payment was never sent to us either, so we simply claimed it on our 2020 tax return.  

The 6475 states that the total they give in the letter can be used "to claim the recovery rebate credit on your 2021 federal income tax return."  It even say if you didn't get the total stated in the letter that you must file a tax return in order to claim it.  

The IRS does not make deposits in our accounts. Being self-employed, I simply apply any overpayment to the first installment of the next year.  At any rate, none of our accounts recorded an input of 1400 or 2800 through the entire year. 

I operate a business, I do get letters and notices from government entities.  I can tell the difference between them and junk mail.  I do not throw away letters from the Department of Treasury/IRS without opening them.    I do not throw away mail addressed to my spouse.  We each received and kept our 6475 letters.  

I don't accept Turbotax's and your presumption that everyone who got a 6475 has already had their payment deposited or mailed.  For those of us who didn't, but rather were expected to claim the credit on our income tax return, I have one last word of advice:  If Turbotax asks you if the amount you are entitled to matches the amount on your 6475, answer NO.  It's the only way I know of that Turbotax will allow you to enter the credit on your return.  If you answer YES, your claim for credit magically disappears and you will lose your ARRA payment.

[Line 30 Confusion]

If you are responding to my original post which started this thread.  I said that we had gone through both our bank records nothing showed up.  I also I said I had gone on the IRS site and it said in 2020 that I received $600 in 2020 for EPI2.  It showed nothing for 2021.

Also when you read the IRS instructions the question and information is worded differently.  Still confusing.
As a CPA told me, put $2800 on the line.  If the IRA shows you were sent the money they will revise your refund.  Then you can ask them to trace the money.  If their records show you did not receive they will pay it as part of your refund.  If you put $0 the line, you are saying you received the money. 

This year's TurboTax was poorly done compared to the much clearer past versions.

[fanfare]

@stphfplt 

"I don't accept Turbotax's and your presumption that everyone who got a 6475 has already had their payment deposited or mailed."

It is the IRS's presumption. That is why the discussion is moot.

Filing a false return ( a "lie" , or a "workaround" whatever you call it) is not going to trick the IRS.

[Line 30 Confusion]

I am not presuming that everyone who received a 6475 letter was paid.  I am saying the opposite.  We were not paid and the IRS site does not say we were paid but we received 6475 letters.

[stphfplt]

I intended to respond to volvogirl and the other posters who insist we were paid, we just missed it.  You and I are in the same boat: we did get the letter but did not get the payment and must claim the credit on our 2021 return.  A situation which Turbotax does not seem to acknowledge exists.  

[stphfplt]

I find your accusation offensive. I am not filing a false return or trying to trick the IRS. I am manipulating the Turbotax program in order to get it to fill in my return correctly.

[fanfare]

@stphfplt 

don't be offended. You're the one who used the word "lie".

I called it a workaround.

It doesn't matter what you call it. It won't work.

[LenaH]

If you file a return with the Recovery Rebate Credit, and the IRS has on record that you got the third stimulus, then they will remove your credit and adjust your refund or amount due. 

Per the IRS, if you did not receive your payment and a payment was issued, then you must start a payment trace. If the check was not cashed, then they will issue you a new one. If the check was cashed, the Treasury Department will send you a claim package that includes a copy of the cashed check. The Treasury Department will review your claim and the signature on the canceled check before determining whether the payment can be reversed and a new payment should be issued.

To start a payment trace:

• Call the IRS at 800-919-9835 and
• Mail or fax a completed Form 3911, Taxpayer Statement Regarding Refund 

Please see Questions and Answers about the Third Economic Impact Payment — Topic J: Payment Issued but Lost, St... for the fax number, which is based upon your resident state. 

@stphfplt

[Line 30 Confusion]

There is a third case.  What if the IRS records show you did not receive the payment.  That is our situation, we received the letter but no payment which the IRS site confirms because it shows no payment in 2021.  To say on the tax form that we received it would be making a false statement.

[fanfare]

@Line 30 Confusion 

"we received the letter but no payment which the IRS site confirms"

 you got a letter saying you got a payment but IRS site says no payment?

That is obviously contradictory; IRS will have to figure it out.

Report no payment received on your tax return.

 (You were going to do that anyway.)

[stphfplt]

No. The 6475 letter invites us to make a claim on our tax return if we did not receive the payment. There is no check to trace.  Same as the second incentive.

Maybe you guys are employees and IRS knows where and how to get money out of you.  I'm self-employed.  They may be a little reluctant to send me cash before they know my taxes are all paid up.