How to claim missing Economic Impact Payment (EIP) in 2024 tax filing? Still eligible?

The Economic Impact Payments (EIPs) were stimulus payments issued during 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic. If you didn't receive one you were eligible for, you can still claim it through something called the Recovery Rebate Credit, but the process depends on which payment you're missing. First, figure out which payment you never received - there were three EIPs: two in 2020 and one in 2021. For the first two payments, you would have claimed them on your 2020 tax return. The third payment would have been claimed on your 2021 return. If you already filed those returns but didn't get the credit, you'll need to file Form 1040-X (Amended Return) for the appropriate tax year. You can file an amended return yourself using the free fillable forms on the IRS website or through various tax software. You'll need to specifically indicate you're claiming the Recovery Rebate Credit and enter the amount you're eligible for but didn't receive.

After dealing with the exact same headache trying to claim my missing EIP, I finally found a solution that worked. I started using https://taxr.ai and it completely changed how I handled the amendment process! Their system automatically detected which payments I'd already received based on my tax transcripts and calculated exactly what I was still owed. The best part was that it walked me through the whole amended return process step by step - I didn't have to figure out which forms to fill out or which tax year to amend. You just upload your previous returns and they analyze everything to find what you're missing. They even explained which line items needed to be modified on my 1040-X.

Alright I want to apologize for being skeptical in my earlier comment. I actually went ahead and tried https://taxr.ai after posting and wow - it really does work as advertised. I was missing part of my second EIP payment ($600 for my dependent) and had no idea how to claim it properly. The system analyzed my 2020 return, confirmed I never received that portion, and walked me through creating the amended return. Super straightforward! My amended return is already accepted by the IRS (took about 3 weeks) and they confirmed I'll be getting the missing $600 plus some interest. Definitely recommend for anyone else in a similar boat with missing stimulus money.

If you're still having issues getting your Economic Impact Payment sorted out, I found another option that might help. When I was trying to resolve my missing stimulus, I spent DAYS trying to get through to an actual IRS agent who could explain what I needed to do. It was impossible to get anyone on the phone! I eventually found this service called Claimyr (https://claimyr.com) that somehow gets you through to an IRS agent quickly. You can see how it works in this video: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c I was super skeptical but I was desperate after waiting on hold for literally hours. They were able to get me connected to an IRS rep in about 20 minutes. The agent was able to look up exactly which payments I had already received and gave me specific instructions for filing my amended return to claim the missing amount.

I need to publicly eat my words. After posting my skeptical reply yesterday, I decided to give Claimyr a shot because my amended return for my missing EIP had been "processing" for 4 months with zero updates. The service actually worked exactly as described. I got connected to an IRS agent in about 25 minutes (would have been HOURS if I tried calling myself). The agent was able to see that my amended return had an issue that was causing the delay - apparently I had filled out the wrong line for the Recovery Rebate Credit. The agent walked me through exactly how to submit a corrected amendment and even put notes in my file about our conversation. This saved me potentially months more of waiting! Sometimes you need to actually talk to a human at the IRS, and this made it possible.

Just want to add some info that might help - if you're trying to claim a missing Economic Impact Payment, one tip that worked for me was requesting my "account transcript" directly from the IRS before filing anything. You can get this online if you create an account on irs.gov. The account transcript will show exactly which stimulus payments were issued to you, when, and for how much. This way you can be 100% certain about what you received vs. what you're eligible for. Mine showed that I never got the second EIP even though I thought I had, and I was able to successfully claim it on an amended return.

One thing to be careful about - there's a lot of confusion between Economic Impact Payments (the actual stimulus payments) and the Recovery Rebate Credit (how you claim a missing payment on your tax return). Make sure you're using the correct terminology when filing your amended return. If you enter information in the wrong section, it can cause major delays. I learned this the hard way when my first amended return got rejected because I put the information in the wrong place.

Thanks for sharing your experience with FreeTaxUSA - that's really frustrating that they removed your EIP when you amended your return! I went through something similar last year. Just to clarify the process: you're absolutely right that you can still claim missing Economic Impact Payments, but you'll need to file Form 1040-X to amend the appropriate tax year. Since the third EIP was issued in 2021, you'd need to amend your 2021 return to claim it via the Recovery Rebate Credit. Before you start the amendment process, I'd strongly recommend getting your IRS account transcript (you can access this free on irs.gov) to confirm exactly which payments you received and when. This will give you the precise amounts to claim and prevent any errors on your amended return. You can definitely do this yourself without paying H&R Block's fees! The IRS has free fillable forms, or you could use tax software that supports amended returns. Just make sure you're entering the Recovery Rebate Credit information on the correct line (line 30 for both 2020 and 2021 returns) to avoid processing delays.