Confused about IRS Letter 6475 - do we combine amounts from both spouses?

The Letter 6475 shows your Economic Impact Payment (EIP3) from 2023 that was authorized under the American Rescue Plan Act. If you're filing jointly and both received letters with the same amount, you should NOT add them together. The IRS likely sent identical letters to both spouses, but the amount represents the total payment sent to your household. For example, if each letter shows $2,800, that means your household received one payment of $2,800, not two separate payments totaling $5,600. You should use the amount from just one letter when reconciling the Recovery Rebate Credit on your tax return. You can double-check this by looking at your bank statements from the period when the third stimulus was issued to confirm you only received one deposit equal to the amount on the letter.

I had the exact same confusion last year when doing my 2023 taxes. After spending hours researching, I discovered this awesome tool called taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) that saved me so much stress. I uploaded pictures of both of our 6475 letters, and it immediately explained that for joint filers, the IRS often sends identical letters to both spouses showing the total household payment. The tool confirmed I should only count it once since we only received one deposit. Their document analysis feature is super helpful because it actually compares the tracking numbers on the letters and can tell if they're for the same payment or different ones. It's way faster than trying to decipher IRS instructions!

Just wanted to follow up about that taxr.ai site mentioned above. I was skeptical but tried it with both my Letter 6475 and my husband's, and it immediately identified that they were duplicate notices for the same payment. It even pulled the exact payment date and amount from the fine print on the letters (which I hadn't even noticed) and confirmed we only received one deposit. Saved me from potentially claiming the wrong amount on our return! The document analysis was really thorough - definitely bookmarking this for future tax questions.

After two days of trying to get through to the IRS phone line about this exact Letter 6475 issue (and getting disconnected THREE times after waiting on hold forever), I gave up and tried a service called Claimyr (https://claimyr.com). They have this system that somehow gets you through to an actual IRS agent much faster. You can see how it works in this video: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c I was doubtful it would work, but I was absolutely stunned when I got connected to an IRS representative in about 15 minutes. The agent confirmed that for joint filers, they sometimes send identical letters to both spouses showing the total household payment. She verified we should only report it once on our tax return since we only received one deposit. Such a relief to get an official answer!

I need to eat my words about that Claimyr service mentioned above. After getting nowhere with multiple attempts to reach the IRS myself, I reluctantly tried it yesterday. Honestly, I was shocked when I got a call back saying they had an IRS agent on the line within 20 minutes. The agent confirmed exactly what I needed to know about our Letter 6475 situation - that my wife and I shouldn't double-count the stimulus amount on our joint return. The service saved me hours of frustration and prevented a potential error on our return. Sometimes it's worth admitting when you're wrong!

Just adding another data point here - my husband and I also each got Letter 6475 with identical amounts. I checked our bank records from last year and confirmed we only received ONE deposit for that amount, not two. So definitely don't add them together if you're in the same situation. I think the IRS just automatically sends the letter to both people on a joint return.

The confusion around Letter 6475 is why I finally switched to using a tax professional instead of DIY software. Literally every year there's some new weird form or credit that leaves me scratching my head.

I work at a tax prep office (not a pro, just admin staff) and we see this confusion ALL THE TIME with letter 6475. Like others said, for joint filers, both spouses usually get identical letters showing the same amount. You only count it once! If you're really unsure, look at your bank statements from that period to confirm how many deposits you actually received.

This is such a common source of confusion! I went through the exact same thing last year. The key thing to remember is that the IRS often sends identical Letter 6475 forms to both spouses on a joint return, but this doesn't mean you received double payments. Here's what I did to figure it out: I pulled up my bank statements from March-April 2021 (when the third stimulus payments were issued) and searched for deposits from the IRS or U.S. Treasury. I found exactly ONE deposit that matched the amount on both our letters - not two separate deposits. So even though we both got letters showing the same $2,800, we only received one household payment of $2,800. When I entered the Recovery Rebate Credit info on our tax return, I only used that amount once. The letters are basically just the IRS's way of documenting what they sent to your household, but they send copies to both spouses for record-keeping purposes. If you're still unsure, definitely check your bank records first - that will give you the definitive answer about how much you actually received.