Recovery Rebate Credit

[mb331]

My efiled return was accepted by the IRS on March 26, 2021. I got my refund over 3 months later, on June 30, 2021. The rebate was $1791.71 lower than I expected. I looked at my various Transcripts on the IRS website and found 2 items relating to my refund. The first was Refund Held For Review $1853.27, the second was a credit for Interest of $61.56. Subtracting the Interest from the Held Credit gets me to the differfence in my refund noted above. In looking to file an Amended Return for a diferent reason, I got to a page that said I was eligible for a Recovery Rebate Credit of $1810. I don't want to file my Amended Return with that Credit because I'm sure it will be denied 3 months from now. Given my income level, I don't understand why I am eligible for the Credit. How can I get this mess straightened out? I was suspicious of the Credit when I filed my original return, but hey, Turbo Tax said it was OK, so I filed for it. Did I do something wrong? Or was it the fault of Turbo Tax? Please help! Thank you.

[xmasbaby0]

Here is the criteria to receive the recovery rebate credit for the 1st and/or 2nd stimulus payment:

A1. Generally, if you are a U.S. citizen or U.S. resident alien, you will receive an Economic Impact Payment of $1,200  ($2,400  for a joint return) if you (and your spouse if filing a joint return)  are not a dependent of another taxpayer and have a Social Security number valid for employment and your adjusted gross income (AGI) does not exceed:

• $150,000  if married and filing a joint return
• $112,500 if filing as  head of household or
• $75,000  for eligible individuals using any other filing status
  Your payment will be reduced by 5% of  the amount by which your AGI exceeds the applicable threshold above.

You are not eligible for a payment if any of the following apply to you:

• You may be claimed as a dependent on another taxpayer’s return (for example, a child or student who may be claimed on a parent’s return or a dependent parent who may be claimed on an adult child’s return).
• You do not have a Social Security number that is valid for employment.
• You are a nonresident alien.
  The following are also not eligible: a deceased individual or an estate or trust.

[VolvoGirl]

So you had about $1,800 on your 1040 line 30?   Did you already get the first or second Stimulus Checks?  Line 30 is only if you qualify for more or didn't get some of the first two rounds.   

[Opus 17]

You won't be successful filing an amended return unless the you can prove that the IRS was wrong in making whatever adjustment they made.  They should send a letter a few weeks after paying the refund.  

It sounds like they reduced your tax refund by $1853 and then paid $61 of interest, which they are required to do if you file on time and they pay your refund more than 45 days later.

You need to understand why they reduced your refund by $1853.  You are mixing the terms "rebate" and "refund" in your question but they mean different things.  If you claimed a recovery rebate on line 30 of $1810, that can't be the only reason the IRS reduced your refund, if the reduction was more than the rebate you claimed.   The IRS might also have reduced your refund if they think you forgot to report some other type of income, or if you claimed the wrong amount of withholding, or you claimed some other credit (like the child tax credit or earned income credit) that you were not eligible for.

As far as the rebate itself is concerned, the maximum rebate on line 30 would be $1800 for yourself, $1800 for your spouse if you filed jointly, and $1100 for each qualifying child dependent age 16 or less.  The rebate will be reduced by the amount of stimulus payments you received.  Your stimulus payments are reported on a letter you got after the payments, called a 1444 letter (for round 1) and a 1444-B (for round 2).  If you did not put those stimulus amounts into Turbotax, the IRS will subtract them from your rebate claim.  If the IRS thinks they paid a stimulus but you never received it (because of a bank account problem or something else) then you can't claim the rebate on your tax return, you have to do a trace of the original stimulus payment. 

It sounds like you need to gather more information to confirm exactly what parts of your tax return the IRS changed.  Unless you can prove their changes were wrong, amending won't get you anywhere, and before you can argue the changes were wrong, you have to know exactly what they changed and why.