How To Find Your Stimulus Payments, also known as Economic Impact Payments, and how to check whether or not you received these payments.

Go To IRS Website

The IRS set up this website so people could check on them. Anytime you have questions about things with the IRS, their website is a fantastic resource. When you go to the website, there’s a section for if you didn’t get that full stimulus payment, you might be able to claim the recovery rebate credit. Go ahead and click the “Get My payment” button.

Enter Information, Correct Information

You’re just going to put some necessary information. The information is going to depend on the taxpayer. So if you’re file married joint, and there’s two of you, you’re going to go with the person who’s listed first. You want to look at your tax return and see how you’ve been filing it because that’s what the IRS will use to pull this information up. So you would go ahead and put their social security number or their ITIN in here, your date of birth, your street address. Look at an old IRS mail and enter the address as it is in their system to match it.

What If I Received Both?

I want to show you a couple of different things that you might see if you go ahead and fill that out. So here is one option. If you received both stimulus payments, you’re going to see something that tells you payment one’s status, the payment time, and it gives you the bank account number. And then, if there’s a second stimulus payment, they’ll show it.

What If I Only Got The First One?

Now, how about for those folks who only got the first one? That’s going to look a little bit different. It’s still going to show the two payments, but you see the first one has information and the second one says not available, which means that they came to a conclusion based on that old information that no, sorry, not for you. But is that the end of it? No, it isn’t. 2020 was a crazy year for so many people. Some people had terrible years. Some people had great years, and depending on what happened, you might qualify for that second payment.

Recovery Rebate Credit & The Worksheet

Now, instead of giving it to you as a stimulus payment, they’re going to make you jump through a few hoops and claim it as a credit on your tax return. The thing that’s great about tax credits is they actually can offset other taxes that you owe. So if you are entitled to this rebate credit, and you get it, and you owed some tax, you will either offset the tax that you owed so you owe less, or if you’re fortunate, you might end up with a refund, and then you’ll get the money back then. The thing that’s great about this Recovery Rebate Credit worksheet is that it comes right from the IRS website. Even better, do any of this and get a CPA or tax preparer and have them do it for you. And if you’re going to DIY, please use tax software because this is not a fun way to spend your time figuring out your way through this worksheet. 

Dependency? 

So, for example, number one, can you be claimed as a dependent on another person’s 2020 tax return? Being dependent means someone else pays for half or more of your expenses. If you check “yes,” it tells you to stop right away because you cannot take the credit. If your child is in college and still your dependent, they’re not going to get the credit or the stimulus payment.

Valid Social Security Number

Then they’re going to ask do you have a valid social security number? And they have a description of what a valid social security number means. If you don’t have that valid social security number, you can’t take the credit or the stimulus payment.

Armed Forces – Special Circumstance

If you were a member of the armed forces, your credit’s not limited, which is excellent. There’s a reduction based on how much you earn. So if you make more than a certain amount, you may only get part of the stimulus payment or credit. But if you’re in the military, you’re not limited. So that’s a nice bonus for our members of the armed forces.

See You Next Time 

If you have any questions, comments drop a message down below. You can always contact my office. If you need help with this or with anything else with your taxes.