Stimulus payment not approved

[Letspaintcookies 2,310]

13 hours ago, Wuozopo said:

We are all just guessing here.

 

Personal opinion:

No I do not think a person looks at your return to approve anything unless an algorithm throws up a big red flag. That would be a BIG one, not petty stuff. They don’t have the staff to go through every return except maybe billionaires who try to avoid taxes. You are not a big enough fish to worry about. A lot of your tax return depends on the honor system. 

No I do not think they check dates. They can’t look at your immigration status or check your POE. Different parts of the government who don’t share files or talk to each other. The IRS doesn’t care if you are an illegal living and working in the US with no papers, no work authorization, no driver’s license, or auto insurance. They gladly collect your income tax. 

 

Completely disagree. The stimulus is a 2021 stimulus. In an effort to get money into hands early, they sent out checks based on previous year filing and income rather than waiting to see if your 2021 income would meet the income rules. It was just a guess based on what they could easily pull together to send that money out in advance of actual 2021 data. Rich people got nothing in the early payout. But if Mr. Rich missed out because he made too much money in the 2020 data they were estimating on, then lost his job and had $30 income for all of tax year 2021–the actual stimulus year— then he qualifies as poor enough to get the 2021 money when he files his 2021 tax return.
 

Go read what the IRS publishes in the instruction for filing.

INSTRUCTIONS Form 1040 https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1040gi.pdf

Start on page  57. 

 

 

 

Honey I'm just guessing here, too. Just like you said "we're all just guessing here" 😉

[powerpuff 6,744]

13 hours ago, Wuozopo said:

We are all just guessing here.

 

Personal opinion:

No I do not think a person looks at your return to approve anything unless an algorithm throws up a big red flag. That would be a BIG one, not petty stuff. They don’t have the staff to go through every return except maybe billionaires who try to avoid taxes. You are not a big enough fish to worry about. A lot of your tax return depends on the honor system. 

No I do not think they check dates. They can’t look at your immigration status or check your POE. Different parts of the government who don’t share files or talk to each other. The IRS doesn’t care if you are an illegal living and working in the US with no papers, no work authorization, no driver’s license, or auto insurance. They gladly collect your income tax.

Interesting. While I wish I was a big fish, it makes sense why they wouldn’t bother; too many people, too little staff. Now I’m even more intrigued to find out why this happened 😄  

 

13 hours ago, seekingthetruth said:

I may have missed it, but what does the accountant say?  They should be able to tell you exactly why, one way or the other, or they are not very good.

 

I was using a CPA for my taxes until 2020, because my taxes were slightly complex.  That changed and they were simple in 2021.  So I looked at the IRS recommended Free File partners, and chose to use OLT.  It was easy to use and free for my Federal.

He hasn’t gotten back to us yet. I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt for now since it could be the SSN thing but I was suggesting to my husband we should look into other options, especially now as you mentioned too, his taxes became simpler. Thanks for the pointers! 

[Ayrton 965]

Did your spouse claim any dependents in 2020 that he's not claiming this year? Do you think it's possible that someone used your SSN last year to file a return and receive the stimulus? 

 

I would suggest:

 

1. Ask your spouse to login to their IRS account and check what number is under the EIP3.

 

2. You create an IRS account and check what's under the EIP3 and if there's any other return filed with your SSN

Edited March 18, 2022 by Ayrton

[powerpuff 6,744]

30 minutes ago, Ayrton said:

Did your spouse claim any dependents in 2020 that he's not claiming this year?

Yes, he claimed his younger brother as a dependent last year but not this year 
 

31 minutes ago, Ayrton said:

Do you think it's possible that someone used your SSN last year to file a return and receive the stimulus? 

No, not possible unless I’m a victim of identity theft 

 

32 minutes ago, Ayrton said:

1. Ask your spouse to login to their IRS account and check what number is under the EIP3.

It’s $2,800. He said he received one for himself and one for his younger brother 

 

32 minutes ago, Ayrton said:

2. You create an IRS account and check what's under the EIP3 and if there's any other return filed with your SSN

After verifying my identity with ID.me, IRS gives me an Error code 2001. I can’t log in. After reading threads on Reddit, a lot of people have received the same error code and were never able to access their account; iD.me doesn’t respond and IRS has no idea what the code means. It’s really frustrating, I gave up.

[Ayrton 965]

20 minutes ago, powerpuff said:

Yes, he claimed his younger brother as a dependent last year but not this year 
.

Then we just found the issue.

 

Unfortunately the worksheet for the EIP doesn't know which person received what. It only matters the number of people (spouses + dependents)

 

In your husband's case, his household received 2800 as an advance (2 people). This year, when filing taxes, his household is still 2 people (you replaced his younger brother on the EIP worksheet calculation). He's eligible for 2800 from the 1040, but he already received 2800, so the worksheet zeros out. 

 

Your CPA wasn't aware of how the worksheet works. Line 30 on the return should've said 0, not 1400.

 

Unfortunately the only way for you to receive the stimulus is if you both amend to filing separately (only if you meet the resident alien requirements without the election). But that might result in your husband receiving a smaller refund/owing taxes.

Edited March 18, 2022 by Ayrton

[powerpuff 6,744]

Oh, I see. Thank you. That makes sense… it’s unfortunate this wasn’t caught by the CPA. 

 

6 minutes ago, Ayrton said:

Unfortunately the only way for you to receive the stimulus is if you both amend to filing separately (only if you meet the resident alien requirements without the election). 

Do you know if we might end up owing or returning received money if we file separately? We have already received a refund 

 

I was present 209 days last year, I should be good for the resident alien requirement 

[Ayrton 965]

Just now, powerpuff said:

Oh, I see. Thank you. That makes sense… it’s unfortunate this wasn’t caught by the CPA. 

 

Do you know if we might end up owing or returning received money if we file separately? We have already received a refund 

 

I was present 209 days last year, I should be good for the resident alien requirement 

Most likely yes if his income was the only one in the household. He used married standard deduction for the taxes, which will now be halved when filing separately. Some credits are also not allowed for MFS. At the end of the day, you will both have to calculate if the amount he has to send back/owe is smaller than 1400.

[powerpuff 6,744]

1 minute ago, Ayrton said:

Most likely yes if his income was the only one in the household. He used married standard deduction for the taxes, which will now be halved when filing separately. Some credits are also not allowed for MFS. At the end of the day, you will both have to calculate if the amount he has to send back/owe is smaller than 1400.

Yes, I was afraid of that. We’ll have to think it over.  Thank you so much for your insight 

[powerpuff 6,744]

Update:

 

After many months of back and forth with the IRS, I have received my $1,400. We did not file an amended return; instead I wrote letters urging them to reconsider their findings. It took 3 letters from my side, the last one being the one where I did not hold off at underlining their utter incompetency and requesting an appeal, for them to actually read what I was writing. Yesterday, I received a direct deposit for the amount above and today I received a letter where is said they will forward my inquiries to their Examination office for review, after which they will refund me. 
 

Thanks all for your time in answering my questions few months ago, I appreciate it.