Recovery Rebate Calculator – February 17, 2009

Want to thank you for writing this Recovery Rebate Caculator. I noticed also it was not on on the IRS website either just that is comming.

Well I did my parents taxes online at from one of the efilers listed on the irs.gov website.

I used them last year (2007 return) for my parents return and was satisfied.

When I did their 2008 return with that same online site this year. I noticed it automatically added to line 70 600. Of couse I didn't question it as the irs says they can figure it out for you if you mail it in or most online tax software will figure it out for you.

Well this company I have used twice for my retired parents online software determined they were eligible and pluged in the 600 on line 70.

Of course when the direct deposit came in to my parents bank account the refund was reduced from 1993 to 1393 or 600 less. So I went to the irs website and check the status of the return which the explaination was mathmatical error on the Recovery Rebate Calculations.

Afer investigating I determined it was an error by the online efiler I used for my parents return. Of course they won't admit it. Their response was You need to contact the IRS.

I did the worksheet manually and it looked like my parents might get it but one or two of the questions on the worksheet I was unsure of something. Why I wanted the calculator tool from the IRS to use which you know is not up yet.

Glad I found yours and keyed in the the info from my parents online 1040.

I can clearly see why the IRS did removed the 600 added by the online tax software.

I think it was their tax Liabilty was zero, which means they don't get no recovery rebate on line 70. how the online tax software missed that I have no idea. As I explained to my parents as they were thinking they had and extra 600 coming other than their money they normally get back from the taxes they pay on their retirement accounts.

My only regret was my mother was telling other family members who are retired like them about the 600 added on by the online tax software and I think many are going to be upset they didn't get that 600 recovery rebate credit. Guess thats what I get for being lazy and not doing it manually. I normally just key in the forms online and get it over with. Didn't know the tax rules were not correct in the efiler I used.

Which filer did you use?

How much did your parents get as a check last year? I would have expected retired people to not have any changes in their tax status, etc. so they would have received the full ($1200) as a check last year. Oh, unless their liability was also 0 or close to zero last year, and so they wouldn't have been sent the full amount. Maybe everyone gets $600 no matter what? (nope, I just tried out an example on the calculator, and it came out zero)

Most people won't qualify for that recovery rebate as many did get the full 1200 on their stimulus last year. However my parents only got 600 for both of them or 300 for each of them on last years stimulus check. For my parents to have recovered the remaining 600 of the 1200 they didn't get they would have had to owe the irs some tax liablity to get it. Since they had a zero tax liablity they automatically are not going to get it based upon the worksheet as you will be plugging in 0. Meaning they didn't pay enough taxes to the govt get the full 1200 in last years stimulus or the possible recovery Rebate on their 2008 return. As for which efiler i used, I prefer not to say as I am upset with them for their recovery rebate caclulator which is done automaticaly without us asking for that rebate put in 600 on the return that the irs denied. Your tool that the irs does not have yet postedon the website sort of cleared up why it was denied. Before I found your tool. I read a few articles on the internet that the IRS is getting alot of returns with this recovery rebate being wrong by most filers. That sad part is I never got the manual forms, I just keeyed in the data off my parents tax documents into their tax software online and print and save the documents for records. The key point is if Seniors don't have any tax liablity on 2007 return and they only got 600 on last year stimulus they will not qualify to get the recovery rebate cause they probably won't have a tax liablity on their 2008 return.

That makes sense. Thanks for explaining in more detail.

I do wonder why the IRS does not have this explained very well - though I suppose that is how most of the tax stuff works - if they made it too easy, they wouldn't have a job any more...

Hi,

I would appreciate if someone can clarify me on my situation regarding the rebate recovery credit(RRC).

I already filed my tax return for 2008 on March 30th '09. But today when I was talking to my friend, I realized that I might have made a mistake with RRC. I reviewed and indeed I had made a honest mistake i.e. I had put $600 for RRC, though I wasn't eligible. But alas I have already postal mailed my return.

So my question is:
- How will the IRS deal with this RRC mistake I have made? Will they come after me to punish for that mistake? OR would they simply correct the error i.e. reduce my refund by $600 and send me the refund?
- What do I need to do if anything from my side? Can I simply ignore this mistake and hope the IRS will fix it? OR Should I correct the mistake? If so how do I do that, since I have already mailed the return?

If anyone with experience could share some insights, I would highly appreciate it. I am all tensed and stressed out after realizing that I made the mistake in RRC. It isn't my intention to mess with IRS.

Please share your thoughts. Thanks.

I think that since you are in good company, ie. 70% of early filers, they won't be penalizing anyone, but will simply reduce your refund.

I wouldn't do anything unless they don't notice the mistake. And then, I'd probably want to make really sure that it was a mistake, since I'd expect them to be pretty careful about this particular issue, but then file an amended return once you get your money back.

ok, thanks for the tip.

For what it's worth, the Fed just sent me and my wife a check for $600 because we neglected to claim the $600 RRC (we had received a stimulus payment, but for only $600 - which was half of what we were entitled to).

I don't often feel warm and fuzzy for bureaucracies, but right now I'm pretty content that they went out of their way to correct an error (in my favor). All the info says that they will not send out a stimulus check, but in my case they did send a seond check - marked "over tax refund" - in other words, I had paid too much. Made my Monday, to be sure!

I've had the IRS correct my mistakes in the past as well. People can argue about whether the taxes are fair or if the politicians have written the laws to make nice loopholes for themselves or whatever, but I think the IRS as a separate entity from those who are writing the laws, seem to do their job well.

I am single and received a 600 stimulus check. When filing with TurboTax I entered in line 70 what the IRS calculator told me to - 600. Turbo Tax detected no errors and i even checked my 07 fillings to make triple sure.

2 months later I get a bill from the IRS stated they calculated the amount of RRC incorrectly and I know owe 600 +interest.

Are IRS Calculator and Turbo tax wrong? Do I owe the government back my Stimulus?

You should only receive $600 if you are single without any kids.

Did you use my calculator, or some other calculator? What values did you fill in (e.g. you filled in that you already received $600, right?)