PSA for those doing your own taxes: make sure you enter your stiimulus check correctly

Link to an article abt the mistake that some are making.

Re: PSA for those doing your own taxes: make sure you enter your stiimulus check correctly

Yes---a lot of people are not understanding the Recovery Rebate Credit for those who might not have gotten the stimulus check or it was reduced for some reason--or they added another dependent on their 2008 taxes---and they have an ability to recover an additional amount.

For the most part, people received the right amount, but if you don't plug it in in the right worksheet, it will mistakenly give you a higher refund believing you are entitled to the "recovery rebate".

Re: PSA for those doing your own taxes: make sure you enter your stiimulus check correctly

I had no clue they goofed last year with the stimulus check so I was surprised to see this when I did my taxes. It was automatically calculated so I thought I did something wrong until i did a search and saw the govt shorted people last year. That is $600 more in our pockets since we only got $600 last year.

Re: PSA for those doing your own taxes: make sure you enter your stiimulus check correctly

Wait ...So are they saying we should leave the box blank where it asks what amount you got in the stimulus check? I used turbo tax and filed yesterday. I remember this box and when I entered what the check amount it brought my refund down.

Re: PSA for those doing your own taxes: make sure you enter your stiimulus check correctly

If you're not sure what you got from the IRS you can check on their website:
www.irs.gov/how much did i get

Some people think they received less because they had an offset or something but actually DID receive the whole amount.

Re: PSA for those doing your own taxes: make sure you enter your stiimulus check correctly

But what I don't understand is if I use that link to check how much I got (which was 1500) the note in turbotax and the IRS info on this says the max was 1200? Im so confuzed

Re: PSA for those doing your own taxes: make sure you enter your stiimulus check correctly

It was typically $600 for single, $1200 for married joint, and $300 additional per kid I believe.

Re: PSA for those doing your own taxes: make sure you enter your stiimulus check correctly

ahh duh makes sense. Married with 1 kid. So is the stimulus getting paid back in 2008 returns? Seems like it since when I entered 1500 my return went down 1500.

Re: PSA for those doing your own taxes: make sure you enter your stiimulus check correctly

Re: PSA for those doing your own taxes: make sure you enter your stiimulus check correctly

Hmmm I wonder if Turbo Tax is messing it up then? If I enter 1500 then my refund goes down 1500 if I leave it at 0 I get 1500 more in my refund. That would tell me they are using the whole number and not a percentage? Anyone else use Turbo Tax deluxe yet?

Re: PSA for those doing your own taxes: make sure you enter your stiimulus check correctly

Re: PSA for those doing your own taxes: make sure you enter your stiimulus check correctly

I think Turbo Tax acts as if you didn't get the rebate last year and thats why it looks like it subtracts from your refund.

thats what I read anyway!

Re: PSA for those doing your own taxes: make sure you enter your stiimulus check correctly

The stimulus payment is NOT taxable income -- the confusion here is that on page 2 of your 1040 line 70 there is a line for "Recovery Rebate" -- there is a worksheet that goes with it. On that worksheet you MUST enter how much you got for your stimulus payment.

Now if you do your taxes and you DO NOT fill in that amount in the worksheet--your refund will be higher than its supposed to be, because the computer is believing that you did NOT receive a stimulus payment and is trying to recover it for you...as some people do have an add'l recovery amount (most DO NOT). So people who are thinking they are doing something wrong...when they put the stimulus payment in and their refund goes donw....you are not doing it wrong. You are doing it right and it is NOT being taxed, it is just correcting the numbers for you because w/o the stimulus payment put in, your refund will be higher than its supposed to be.

Re: PSA for those doing your own taxes: make sure you enter your stiimulus check correctly

Thanks for posting that.

Re: PSA for those doing your own taxes: make sure you enter your stiimulus check correctly

Thank you so much for clearing that up for me. I was hoping I didn't have to amend my return and you just clarified that I do not.

Thanks again

Re: PSA for those doing your own taxes: make sure you enter your stiimulus check correctly

Yeah I just did a trial run on Turbo Tax online, it asked me what I received on my check. I put the amount down. My refund number didn't change.