Recovery Rebate Credit

[SAWBoswell]

Why doesn't my refund amount change after I answer the stimulus check question? We qualify but never received the second or third checks.

[ThomasM125]

It may be because the credit was already included in your return to begin with. You can look at your form 1040 to see if the recovery rebate credit is listed on line 30 of your form 1040 by following these steps in TurboTax:

1. Tools (left side of the menu bar)
2. Tax Tools 
3. View Tax Summary
4. Preview my 1040 (left menu bar)

[SweetieJean]

The Recovery Rebate Credit only covers Stimulus #1 and #2, as applicable.

The IRS is sending out Stimulus #3 payments in batches, and will take a few weeks to complete them all.  This one comes to you separately (and automatically), not as part of your 2020 tax refund.  You can check the status here:

Get My Payment | Internal Revenue Service (irs.gov)

[NCperson]

it is the way TT is programmed (and done poorly in my opinion)

first, don't worry about the 3rd stimulus as that is for next year's tax return.

otherwise, TT begins assuming that you did not receive ANY stimulus.  So the whole time you are entering documents the refund meter is inflated.  Then at the very end you are asked what stimulus payments you actually received.  If you didn't receive stimulus then the refund meter is correct.  But if you did receive stimulus, the meter is DEFLATED to reflect your correct refund.

if would have been better to ask the stimulus questions at the VERY beginning so the refund meter wasn't inflated.  

look on Line 30 for Form 1040, you will see the stimulus that is owe you there (which is technically the 'Recovery Credit")

[SAWBoswell]

I've checked line 30 and it is blank. We received the first stimulus as a direct deposit but never got the second one. How do I correct the form to reflect the $600 x 2 credit?

[VolvoGirl]

On the Stimulus screen there are 2 boxes.  Did you enter the first 2400 you got in the first box?  And enter 0 in the second box.   Or you Income in 2020 is too high to qualify for it now.  It is really based on your 2020 return.

Go back to that screen.

After you have entered your tax information and are ready for the Federal Review, it will be the first question.

If you are trying to trigger it, you can go to Other Situations, answer any questions and click Done. The next automatic selection is Federal Review and it will ask about payments received.

[JotikaT2]

Log back into TurboTax and select the Federal Taxes tab.

1. Select Federal Review.  You should see a screen similar to the one below.
2. When asked "Let's double-check the amount you received", select No to indicate you did not receive both payments.
3. Be sure to enter zero in the box for the second stimulus payment to ensure the Recovery Rebate Credit is calculated on your tax return.
4. The next page will then let you know if you qualify for the Recovery Rebate Credit.

Please see the attached link for more information on the credit.

Eligibility for Recovery Rebate Credit

[NCperson]

@SAWBoswell - there are good instructions provided by @VolvoGirl and @JotikaT2 ... what isn't mentioned is that if you do as they say and Line 30 isn't what you expect, there are two other issues that could be causing the problem

1) your income is too high to be eligible. What you was adjusted gross income on your 2020 tax return? 

2) if the missing money relates to your children, how old are they as of 12/31/20? and look at their names on the front page of your tax return. Over to the right, there are little boxes; the box under 'CTC' must be checked.

please post back your results! 

[SAWBoswell]

Our 2020 AGI is $175k but about $40k of that is moving expenses paid by my husband's employer. It appears to be showing as straight income on his W-2 so I am not sure how to differentiate.

We don't have any dependent children. Both of our sons are post-college age.

Do you think it isn't applying because of the moving expenses?

[SAWBoswell]

I entered it as you say.

[DaveF1006 · Accepted solution]

Yes, the moving expenses are part of the income received for the year and places your above the $150,000 filing threshold. 

According to Irs.gov:

1. Tax filers with adjusted gross income up to $75,000 for individuals and up to $150,000 for married couples filing joint returns will receive the full payment. For filers with income above those amounts, the payment amount is reduced by $5 for each $100 above the $75,000/$150,000 thresholds. Single filers with income exceeding $99,000 and $198,000 for joint filers with no children are not eligible.
2. Social Security recipients and railroad retirees who are otherwise not required to file a tax return are also eligible and will not be required to file a return. 

[NCperson]

@SAWBoswell so the $175k would include the moving expenses as noted by  @DaveF1006 

if you go through the gory math, it would say that you are not eligible for more than $1150 of stimulus because your AGI is more than $150,000.  All that matters is your 2020 tax return; prior years have no bearing on the matter.

if you received more than $1150, then Line 30 is zero, but you can keep whatever you received. There is no requirement to pay back if you received more than the math entities to you; in other words Line 30 can not be negative. 

[SAWBoswell]

Makes sense. Thank you!

[rccochran]

Turbo Tax automatically put amount(s) denoting the amount of stimulus funds we were entitled to receive ( and put the incorrect amount  in Line 30, Recovery Rebate Credit )  We did not receive the second stimulus payment.  This error went unnoticed and the return was filed.  IRS has notified us that the amount included on Line 30 is incorrect.  How do we change the amount on Line 30?