TurboTax and Recovery Rebate Credit

[BarbWire]

Background: 2019 income was above the threshold for getting stimulus payments, so I received $0 first round and $0 second round.

2020 income was substantially lower (no RMDs, and interest income went to nil) so in retrospect, my 2020 income level DID qualify for the stimulus payments, as it was less than $75K.


Question: When I do the review, TurboTax Deluxe says "congratulations, you qualify for the Recovery Rebate Credit of $1,800" and asks me to confirm that I received $0. But nothing changes in my refund due. When I run the "check for errors" it comes up with two errors on the Rebate worksheet -- both places where I have to insert $0 received, and the -- shazam! -- my refund increases by $1800.

Does this sound right -- that I should be getting a rebate credit for 2020 payments, and that TurboTax does not populate the worksheet?

 

[Jerry1]

Sounds exactly correct. Congratulations!

 

[BarbWire]

Thank you for the prompt reply.

It seems like every year there is something screwy in TurboTax that makes me gnash my teeth. Usually it involves the Foreign Tax Credit and Form 1166. This year, that went smoothly and then I hit the RRC non-population of amounts ....

 

[SecondCor521]

Yes, you should be getting the rebates (assuming a filing status of single, which sounds like it).

The way TT did things there sounds a little clunky. It should fill out the recovery rebate credit worksheet for you after you tell it that you twice received $0. The net result of an $1800 refund sounds correct.

If you file quickly enough, the IRS should reevaluate your situation later this summer and send you $1400 for EIP3 based on your 2020 return.

 

[BarbWire]

Definitely a broken link in TTax: if you say you didn't get payments, it asks "are you sure you got $0?"

If you say "yes, that is correct -- $0" it doesn't generate the RRC worksheet and populate it with the $0 values. And so that is flagged as an error in review.

If, on the other hand, you say "no, that's not correct," that triggers the generation of the worksheet: in the interview, you are prompted to input the amounts you received. And if you enter $0 and $0 in the interview then it properly generates the RRC Worksheet and credits you with the RRC, without generating errors in the review.