Economic Impact Payment reporting issue

[Kuroro]

I received first wave of Economic Impact Payment in 2020 based on my 2018 tax return since I did not file for 2019 tax return at that time. However, my 2019 tax return exceeded the threshold for receving the second wave stimulus payment, so I received one payment from IRS in 2020. I can't find a place to enter the stimulus payment I received from IRS for 2020 tax return, but it looks like IRS website says I'll have to report the Recovery Rebate Credit on Line 30 of my tax year 2020 return. My question is how can I do that in Turbotax Premier online version?

[CatinaT1]

If you did not receive your first and/or second stimulus payment or if the amount received is not correct, you can claim it on your 2020 tax return as the Recovery Rebate Credit.

In TurboTax Online, to claim the Recovery Rebate credit please do the following:

1. Sign into your account and continue from where you left off
2. Click on Federal in the left-hand column, then on Federal Review on the top of the screen
3. On the next page titled Let's make sure you got the right stimulus amount, click on Continue
4. Follow the interview
5. TurboTax will determine whether you are entitled to any additional stimulus
6. Any stimulus amount remaining due to you will show as a credit on line 30 of your form 1040.

[Lee48]

Your program is generally great, but there is a glaring error in the way your system calculates the EIP.  My wife is not an American citizen, but we file a joint return.  According to the worksheet provided by IRS, I can only claim the EIP for myself, but there is no way that I can see in TurboTax to clarify her as ineligible. In fact, your system continually asks for her SS number, but there is no provision for that omission to be used in the calculation for the EIP, nor a way to manually edit that field. As a result, I was forced to abandon using TurboTax for this year's return, which is a shame since it is such a good and useful product.  Please fix this so future returns can be filed with TurboTax.

[Irene2805]

If your wife is a U.S. Resident Alien, and she has a social security number (SSN) or ITIN valid for employment, she qualifies for the stimulus payment.

If she does not, the workaround is to include enter the amount of stimulus payment she would have received.  [Screenshot #1]  This will stop TurboTax from calculating the Recovery Rebate Credit for her, and not affect the rest of your return.  

[Lee48]

That would definitely work, except that worksheet does not show up when I go through the Deductions and Credit section.  In fact, there is no place I can see to work through what the deduction would come out with.  By the way, my wife is not a US citizen nor does she have a SS number because we currently reside in Australia. Can you please tell me where that is so I can try it out. 

[DawnC]

Go to the search bar up top and type in stimulus (make sure you are all the way inside of your return or search does not function), hit enter and then use the Jump to stimulus link to be taken to the questions.  When you are testing the worksheets calculations, you will enter 2 amounts.  It is important that you enter the amount you received (add the spousal portion of $1200) for the first payment in the 1st box and the amount you received (add the spousal portion of $600) for the 2nd payment in the 2nd box.  If you transpose these 2 numbers, you may generate a recovery rebate that you are not qualified for or forego claiming one that you do qualify for.    Anytime you need to get back to that section, searching stimulus is the way to do it.    @Lee48

[Lee48]

That looked promising, but every time I click on the SEARCH button on the top right, TurboTax opens a new window to the IRS Free File website with no connection to the tax return.  I did do this, as you said, while in the middle of the tax return, but it didn't show anything about stimulus nor open up a section where I could change the amounts.  Any other ideas?

[MaryM428]

Even though your parent got the 2019 stimulus for you, you can get the 2019 and 2020 stimulus for yourself if you are not a dependent in 2020.  So TurboTax is giving you the stimulus and that is correct.

@ ag18

[Lee48]

Thanks for your reply. I'm not sure where you got the idea that I'm a dependent on my parents...I'm not.  The problem (challenge) is that my wife is not a US citizen and does not have a SSN, so I need a way to tell TurboTax that. That still does not answer the question about where the worksheet for determining eligibility is in TurboTax.  If I could fill in the worksheet that the IRS provides online with TurboTax, it would calculate the correct amount.  

[LenaH]

Mixed-status families now fully qualify to receive stimulus payments as long as one spouse has a valid social security number. 

When the CARES Act was first passed in March 2020, the spouse without a social security number were not eligible to receive a stimulus payment. However, when Congress passed the coronavirus relief package in late December, the government allowed mixed-status families to both receive stimulus payments.

This change in law is retroactive, meaning that mixed-status families are now qualified for the first round of payments as well. The credit you are seeing on the Recovery Rebate Form is reflecting the stimulus payments that were for your spouse and is correct. 

@Lee48

[Lee48]

Thank you for your reply. I agree with you that "mixed-status families" (interesting term) are eligible, but please correct me if I'm wrong if I am reading the IRS worksheet incorrectly. On line 4 of the worksheet, after answering NO to line 3, it says that "credit is limited", and to proceed to line 5;  line 5 and later line 8, gives instructions on how much to claim.  Since only one of us has a SSN, they indicate that I can only claim $1200 for the 1st payment, and $600 for the 2nd. If I'm reading their instructions correctly it's indicating that when only one person has a SSN and is eligible, I would only be eligible to receive the stimulus payment ONLY for myself, not my wife, who is not a citizen. Is this correct, or can I claim my wife's credit even though she's not a citizen and does not have a SSN?  (TurboTax seems to be missing this important worksheet in their application...it does not come up when preparing my tax return; perhaps there are not enough "mixed-status families" to include it, but there does not seem to be a workaround.  In fact, even when I leave the SSN blank, the application does not factor this this fact in the calculation.  Hence, my reaching out to the community.)

[LenaH]

Can you post a link of the IRS worksheet you are referring to? Once received, I can assist you further. 

@Lee48 

[Lee48]

On page 59 of the 2020 Instructions for the 1040 tax form, there's a Recovery Rebate Credit Worksheet for Line 30 on the tax form, which is where a claim for the credit can be inserted.  That's the missing form in TurboTax, but it's also where the confusion over eligibility seems to be.  Your insight and experience in deciphering the instructions would be most appreciated.

[LenaH]

After reviewing the 2020 1040 instructions for Line 30,

• On Line 4, it says your credit limited in limited and to go to Line 5. 
• On Line 5, it states to enter $1,200 for your situation. 
• On Line 6, it calculates the amount of your stimulus for qualifying children, if applicable. 
• On Line 7, it states to add Line 5 and Line 6.
• On Line 8, it states to enter $600 for your situation. 
• On Line 9, it calculates the amount of your stimulus for qualifying children, if applicable. 
• On Line 10, add lines 8 and 9. 

Therefore, the instructions for the Recovery Rebate Credit do indicate that only you are eligible for the Recovery Rebate Credit. I am sorry for any misinformation given originally and thank you for bringing this to my attention. 

One option for you to avoid the population of the Recovery Rebate Credit is for your spouse to file separately. In that case, her credit would not populate since she is married filing separately without a social security number. 

@Lee48

[Lee48]

Thank you, that's the answer I got when I followed the worksheet. Because I need all the deductions that come with filing jointly, I will have to file my tax return manually to ensure that the correct credit is given for the EIP.  Hopefully TurboTax will include this worksheet in updated versions, or at least for next year's return since there looks to be another payment in 2021.  Those of you who are "tax experts", perhaps you can advice/influence TurboTax to make this improvement.

Thank you, everyone, for your help.