I’m trying to decipher my late father’s financial history for calendar year 2021. I wasn’t eligible for any of the covid stimulus payments so I can’t recall much about them. In my googling I’ve determine (I think) the following:
(Note: my father was a widower so there was no spouse or other dependents involved)
First Round: $1,200 per adult (definitely 2020)
Second Round: $ 600 per adult (authorized late 2020 but I think not paid until 2021?)
Third Round: $1,400 per adult (2021)
I’m only concerned with CY2021 (he passed away late 2021). His AGI was in the range where things started to get phased out. I think for CY2020 his AGI was about $76,000.
I was playing with a couple of online calculators but one number that confused me was the “dependents” number. I’m going to check with a CPA next week but as a single person, I assume the number of dependents is usually zero?
I’ve been playing with the numbers and can’t get any numbers that make me “happy”. I say that because my brother is a joint owner on his bank account and went through all of the deposits for 2021 and the only two that could make sense are for:
3/xx/2021 $932 IRS
6/xx/2021 $173 Deposit
Obviously the one listed as “IRS” seems possible but when I look at the numbers I always end up with higher amounts using the online calculators (usually around $1020).
I guess my main questions are:
How many payments would have been made in CY2021 if someone were eligible for them?
Were the payments strictly based on CY2020 AGI?
For people that received the payments, did they receive some kind of tax document?
I think I might just use the $932. My father was pretty detailed in keeping the documents but I don’t see anything for this but I do recall him laughing about getting a payment. I do believe that call was in 2020 and not early 2021 but my memory isn’t that perfect.
I am not a tax professional, just a kindred spirit who has almost finished settling my Dad’s estate. Someone else may have better advice.
I was in a similar situation trying to figure out my father’s stimulus payments. The IRS sent letters with the amounts of the payments but I could not find all of them. I went through his bank deposits and found one that seemed about right and filed using that number. There must have been another check deposited on that same day, because my estimated number was higher than the actual number. The IRS found and corrected the error and adjusted the refund. I wouldn’t sweat it. Unless someone else knows an easy way to get the actual number, I would file using the $932.
If you have filed all of the paperwork to speak to the IRS regarding your father’s taxes, you might try calling. If you do, expect to call multiple times until you make it into a phone queue and then wait a long time in the queue and then be placed on hold several times… Personally, I wouldn’t waste the time.
If you are the executor of the Estate, file Form 56, Notice Concerning Fiduciary Relationship, with the IRS, and then request an account transcript for your father for 2020 and 2021. The stimulus payments will be identified on the transcripts with code 766, “tax relief credit”, and the amount issued.
Note that the transcript will only show that the IRS issued the payment, not that it was received/cashed/deposited by the recipient. If you can’t find matching evidence that the payments were received, you can request the IRS trace the payments by filing Form 3911, Taxpayer Statement Regarding Refund.
A friend was confused about a stimulus payment and marked she didn’t receive it. The IRS sent a letter that she had received it. It appears that the IRS expects mistakes and the software corrects mistakes.
One of our payments was received on a prepaid debit card. I think it was 2020 and that was a mess. We aren’t able to determine what happened with that payment for a disabled brother. He’s in a care home and under care of a regional center. Neither of which appear to have received it.
First Round: $1,200 per adult (definitely 2020) Second Round: $ 600 per adult (authorized late 2020 but I think not paid until 2021?) Third Round: $1,400 per adult (2021)
Kind of, but not exactly. Stimulus payments were tax credits - the first two were credits for 2020 taxes, the 3rd one was a credit for 2021 taxes. The payments that were made prior to filing your taxes for the appropriate year were based on AGI from prior year tax filings (2018 or 2019 for the first 2 and 2019 or 2020 for the 3rd one). If the AGI from your earlier tax returns qualified you for a higher payment than you actually ended up being eligible for based on your 2020 (1st & 2nd payments) or 2021 (3rd payment) AGI, you were not required to pay the overage back. However, if you initially got a lower payment than you ended up being qualified for, you were able to claim any additional credit when you filed your tax return.
1. How many payments would have been made in CY2021 if someone were eligible for them?
For pre-payments (rather than actually filing a tax return to claim the credit), generally 2 - the 2nd and the 3rd. As you noted, the 2nd payment was passed so late in the year (Dec 28, 2020), that there may have been a few people who got that payment in late 2020, but most probably got it in 2021. The 3rd payment was a part of the American Rescue Plan, which was passed March 11, 2021, and the pre-payments were mostly completed in 2021, although a few were sent as late as Jan, 2022.
2. Were the payments strictly based on CY2020 AGI?
No - see above on how you could have gotten a payment based on an your AGI from an earlier tax return.
3. For people that received the payments, did they receive some kind of tax document?
No, but it is documented in their online account https://www.irs.gov/coronavirus/economic-impact-payments Not sure if that helps or not, since I’m not sure if you’re allowed to access his online account as his executor/personal representative.
One last thing to mention. You got the basics right for the three payments. But only the third payment matters for the 2021 return. The first two were taken care of on the 2020 return.
If you are the executor of the Estate, file Form 56, Notice Concerning Fiduciary Relationship, with the IRS, and then request an account transcript for your father for 2020 and 2021. The stimulus payments will be identified on the transcripts with code 766, “tax relief credit”, and the amount issued.
If you go this route, be patient. I requested my father’s transcripts earlier this year and it took about 8 weeks to receive them.
No, but it is documented in their online account https://www.irs.gov/coronavirus/economic-impact-payments Not sure if that helps or not, since I’m not sure if you’re allowed to access his online account as his executor/personal representative.
I doubt you can access his online account directly, but after establishing your authority with Form 56, you can request the transcripts.
If you go this route, be patient. I requested my father’s transcripts earlier this year and it took about 8 weeks to receive them.
The agents I speak with regularly tell me that if they can’t place a transcript in my Secure Object Repository (my IRS secure mailbox), it will be mailed to the taxpayer within 5-10 business days.
The agents I speak with regularly tell me that if they can’t place a transcript in my Secure Object Repository (my IRS secure mailbox), it will be mailed to the taxpayer within 5-10 business days.
I think the delay was due to manually processing the mailed in Form 56. IRS representative told me I could file Form 56 by fax while on the phone with the IRS or I would have to mail it in. They said to allow 6 weeks for Form 56 mail in processing due to Covid delays.
I was also surprised to hear that the Form 56 and accompanying documentation are archived after a relatively short period of time (120 days I think?). It was suggested to me that I resubmit Form 56 and court documentation with my Form 4506T because that would be faster than the IRS retrieving the documentation from the archives.
I mailed in the request for the transcripts in early March and received them in May. Hopefully the IRS is getting caught up now and Rich’s documentation will be processed more quickly. I am just one data point.