Stimulus affecting federal refund amount

[bmitchell3192]

When my mom enters all her information is says she will get $1212. The moment she says she received the stimulus packages and enters the amounts, her federal drops to $588. How is this so? I thought this wasn't supposed to affect anything?

[Critter-3]

Let me explain how stupid the placement of the stimulus question in the interview flow is  ...  until you get to that point the program was including  the entire stimulus credit you are eligible for based on your 2020 return  but when you finally tell the program how much you already got in advance that same amount   is removed from the estimated refund posted. 

It would be nice if they would have asked for that information in the beginning  in the MY INFO  section  BEFORE you entered in the income   BUT the programmers  did not ASK  us posters in this forum  AND  they probably will not listen to us now and change the interview flow   so I will be posting this answer A LOT  this year.  

[bmitchell3192]

@Critter-3 Well here is the weird thing.. my husband and I filed jointly and we had $195 federal before we entered the stimulus and after we entered, nothing changed for us. Why would it affect her so drastically but not me at all

[Critter-3]

Ok ... it all depends on the income level on the 2020 return since that is the tax year the actual credit is based on ...so  if you got too much in advance or just the right amount then it will not affect the 2020 bottom line.    Only when you did not get enough will that stupid Refund-O-Meter  confuse you.  

Please look at the form 1040 before and after you complete the stimulus section ... then you will see the advance  is NOT being taxed but it only affects the amount of the credit on line 30 of the form 1040.

How do I preview my TurboTax Online return before filing?

You can view your entire return or just your 1040 form before you e-file:

1. Open or continue your return.
2. Select Tax Tools in the left menu (if you don't see this, select the menu icon in the upper-left corner).
3. With the Tax Tools menu open, you can then:
• Preview your entire return: Select Print Center and then Print, Save, or Preview This Year's Return (you may be asked to register or pay first).
• View only your 1040 form: Select Tools. Next, select View Tax Summary in the pop-up, then Preview my 1040 in the left menu.