Many people are wondering if they can claim the Recovery Rebate Credit for missed stimulus payments as they get ready to submit their 2020 and 2021 tax returns. During the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal government distributed 3 rounds of monetary impact money transfers, or stimulus funds, to eligible Americans in 2020 and 2021.
Recovery Rebate Credit
During the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, the federal government established the Recovery Rebate Credit; the stimulus payments were payments in anticipation of this tax credit. In 2020 and the beginning of 2021, the first and 2nd rounds of stimulus payments were distributed, and the 3rd round was distributed from March to December of that same year.
As of January 26, 2022, the IRS ceased issuing stimulus checks. Even if they weren’t given a stimulus check or only got a portion of one, taxpayers may still be able to make a claim for the Recovery Rebate Credit on their federal tax returns for 2020 or 2021. Even if they don’t typically submit a tax return, taxpayers who desire to utilize the credit must do so for those years. If they did file a return but did not claim the credit, they must file an amended return to get the credit.
Missing Stimulus Check
The IRS says it’s important for eligible individuals who are claiming a Recovery Rebate Credit to understand that the stimulus checks that were dispersed applied to different tax years.
This means that missing first and second stimulus checks may only be claimed on a 2020 federal tax return, while missing third stimulus checks may only be claimed on a 2021 federal tax return.
To correctly compute the credit, taxpayers who are interested in claiming the 2020 or even 2021 Recovery Rebate Credit for skipped stimulus checks must have access to the tax year as well as the amount of the payments they did receive. The Form 1040 Recovery Rebate Credit Worksheet or tax preparation software can be used to input the amount and compute the credit reports MARCA.