I claimed her for 2021 (100% supported) because I was unaware I could for her for 2020. She has not worked since March 2020. I 100% supported her more than half the year but she is over the dependent income limit for 2020 taxes. But once she moved in, in late March 2020 she was 100% dependent on me. Is there any type of exemption? Also she has never received any of the surplus checks (nor I for her) in 2020-now. How can she/I get them? She qualified for 2021 taxes but I never received any checks for her like I did for my other dependents.
How old was she on 12/31/2020, and was she a full time student in 2020? (And late March 2020 to Dec 2020 is 9 months, not 7.5.)
let's break this down between 2020 and 2021 tax return
I will assume she was not in school as that complicates the response.
1) in 2020, if her income was greater than $4200, you could not claim her. Even if she made $4200 on January 2 and moved to live with you on January 3 and didn't work again the rest of the year, you still can't claim her. There is no exception. When she filed her 2020 tax return, any stimulus due her from the 1st two stimulus payments would be shown on Line 30 of Form 1040. You can not get the 1st two stimulus payments on your tax return for her since you can't claim her.
2) in 2021, as long as her income was less than $4300 and you provided over 50% of her support, you can claim her. You should see the $1400 for the stimulus on Line 30 (assuming you didn't receive it in 2021for her, which is unlikely if you did not claim her in 2020). But again, if she received more than $4300 in 2021 (including unemployment), you can't claim her, but when she files her own taxes, she'll get any missing stimulus money via Line 30 Form 1040.
let's start there....does that bring some clarity to the situation, Please provide her age as of 12/31/21 and whether she was a full time student in either year as that might hange my response