Should you see your recovery rebate credit post to your federal tax return instantly. Mine did not appear to show any change. Or does this get verified and then added?

[VTPete]

If I claim I received the proper stimulus amount, the system adds $300 to my return, If I state I did not receive the proper amount, it says great you qualify for the recovery rebate credit of $695 but does not appear to add to my total federal return.

[KrisD15]

Yes, the 2020 Tax Year return is the vehicle to balance the stimulus payments as a recovery credit. 

TO VIEW THE RECOVERY REBATE CREDIT:

Click   Tax Home

Click   Review   if necessary to get Tax Tools on the left side-bar

Click   Tax Tools   on the left side-bar (you may need to use the scroll bar for the left side-bar to see this)

Click   Tools   on the drop-down list

Click    View Tax Summary   on the Tools Center screen

When you do this,   Preview my 1040   appears on the left side-bar            

Click   Preview my 1040   on the left side-bar

Scroll down and look at line 30 on the 1040 for your “Recovery rebate credit”

[VTPete]

Thanks for the quick reply. So does it make sense that my tax return would have went up $300 if I said that I had already received my stimulus in full? That part did not make sense to me. If I had selected I received the proper amount, turbo tax added 300, when I said I did not it removed the 300 and said I qualified for the recovery rebate. You would expect that stating I did not recieve the full amount (which I didn't) would yeild the best return.

[VolvoGirl]

Sounds like you qualify for the 300 more.  

Your 2020 return starts out by assuming you didn't get any Stimulus payments so it gives you credit for the full amount and your refund was too high.  Then near the end you enter how much you actually got so it only gives you the difference if any.  So you don't get it again.  

That's why you can see your refund or tax due change when you enter the Stimulus payments.