The $1400 stimulus check... How do I know if I qualify for it now?
So I'm trying to figure out this whole stimulus check situation for this tax season. I remember back in 2021, I only received one $1400 payment, but I was pretty sure most people were supposed to get more than that. I never got a second payment, and now I'm hearing that if you didn't claim it back then, you might be eligible to get it now with your current filing. I'm really confused about whether I'm supposed to be getting another $1400 payment with the current round of deposits going out. Do I need to do something special on my tax return to claim it? How do I even prove that I never got that second payment? Any help would be appreciated because I could definitely use that money right now.
18 comments
Join the conversation
Jamal Wilson
What you're referring to is the Recovery Rebate Credit. If you were eligible for the third stimulus payment (the $1400 one) in 2021 but didn't receive it, you can claim it on your tax return as a credit. The key thing is determining if you're actually missing a payment. The third stimulus was just one payment of $1400 per eligible person (including dependents), not multiple payments. There were three separate stimulus programs throughout the pandemic: first was $1200, second was $600, and third was $1400. So it's possible you're confusing which ones you received. Check your IRS online account or look at your bank statements from 2021 to confirm what you actually received. If you truly didn't get the third stimulus payment and were eligible, you would have needed to claim it on your 2021 tax return (the one you filed in 2022). The current filing season is for 2024 taxes (2025 filing), so you're beyond the normal timeframe to claim the 2021 stimulus money.
0 coins
Mei Lin
•Wait, I thought there were actually two $1400 payments? One at the beginning of 2021 and one later on? Or am I totally misremembering this? Also, if I missed claiming it in 2021, am I completely out of luck now?
0 coins
Jamal Wilson
•There was only one $1400 payment - that was the American Rescue Plan stimulus (the third one). The first stimulus was $1200 in spring 2020, and the second was $600 in December 2020/January 2021. Many people get confused about which payments they received. If you missed claiming the Recovery Rebate Credit on your 2021 return, you can still file an amended return (Form 1040-X) for 2021. You generally have up to 3 years from the original filing deadline to amend a return, so you still have time. You'll need to confirm you were eligible based on your 2021 income and situation, then file the amendment to claim the credit.
0 coins
Liam Fitzgerald
I was in a similar situation and spent HOURS trying to figure out which payments I'd actually received. The IRS website was a nightmare and their phone lines were completely useless. I finally discovered taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) which helped me sort everything out. I uploaded my tax documents and bank statements, and it automatically identified which stimulus payments I'd received and which ones I was still eligible for. Turns out I was missing the $600 one, not the $1400 like I thought! They walked me through exactly how to claim it on my amended return. Saved me so much confusion and probably prevented me from filing incorrect information.
0 coins
Amara Nnamani
•Does this service also help with missing tax credits from previous years? I'm pretty sure I missed out on some child tax credit payments but have no idea how to prove it or claim them now.
0 coins
Giovanni Mancini
•I'm skeptical about these tax services. How exactly does it work? Do you have to give them all your financial info? I don't feel comfortable sharing my bank statements with random websites.
0 coins
Liam Fitzgerald
•They have specific tools for tax credits like the CTC. It compares what you should have received based on your situation with what actually hit your accounts. Really helpful for reconciling those advance payments from 2021 that caused so much confusion. For security concerns, they use bank-level encryption and you can actually limit what you share. I only uploaded the specific statements showing government deposits, not my entire history. The system is designed to recognize tax-relevant information without needing your complete financial picture.
0 coins
Giovanni Mancini
I've gotta say I was wrong about taxr.ai. After my skeptical comment I decided to try it anyway because I was desperate to figure out my stimulus situation. It was actually super secure - they use the same security as major banks and don't store your full documents. It revealed I actually got both the $600 and $1400 payments but they came through under weird transaction names that I didn't recognize as government payments. Saved me from filing an incorrect amended return! The document analysis was really impressive - it found patterns in my statements I would have never caught myself.
0 coins
NebulaNinja
If you're still trying to contact the IRS about stimulus payments, good luck... I tried calling them 37 times over 3 weeks and couldn't get through to an actual person. Then I found Claimyr (https://claimyr.com) and it was a game-changer. They got me connected to an actual IRS agent in about 25 minutes when I had been trying unsuccessfully for weeks. The agent was able to look up exactly which stimulus payments had been issued to me and confirm which ones I could still claim. There's a video showing how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c if you're curious. I was able to get definitive answers straight from the IRS instead of guessing.
0 coins
Fatima Al-Suwaidi
•How does this even work? The IRS phone lines are impossible to get through. Is this some kind of paid priority service? That doesn't seem right if it's letting people cut the line.
0 coins
Dylan Mitchell
•This sounds like complete BS. Nobody can magically get you through to the IRS faster. There's probably a catch - like you pay them and they just put you on hold exactly like you would be if you called yourself.
0 coins
NebulaNinja
•It's not a priority line or anything shady. They use an automated system that keeps dialing and navigating the IRS phone tree until there's an opening, then it connects you. You're still in the same queue as everyone else, but their system handles the frustrating part of constantly redialing and working through the menu options. The reason it works better than calling yourself is that their system can make hundreds of attempts in the background following the optimal path through the phone tree, whereas most of us give up after a few tries. There's no special access - just technology making the existing system more accessible.
0 coins
Dylan Mitchell
I need to publicly eat my words here. After being super skeptical about Claimyr, I tried it out of desperation because I needed to resolve my stimulus issue before filing this year. I was SHOCKED when I was talking to an actual IRS agent after about 30 minutes. The agent confirmed that I had already received all three stimulus payments ($1200, $600, and $1400), but the last one came through on a prepaid card that I had thrown away thinking it was junk mail! They were able to help me request a replacement for the card with my $1400 still on it. If I hadn't gotten through to a real person at the IRS, I would have incorrectly tried to claim money I'd already been sent.
0 coins
Sofia Morales
Just to clarify something important about stimulus payments - there's a strict timeline for claiming them. The $1400 payment (third stimulus) was technically an advance payment of a 2021 tax credit. If you didn't get it automatically, you were supposed to claim it on your 2021 tax return. If you didn't claim it on your 2021 return, you need to file an amended return (1040-X) for that specific year. You CANNOT claim it on your 2024 return (the one you're filing in 2025). This is a common misunderstanding. You have 3 years from the original filing deadline to amend a return, so you still have time for 2021.
0 coins
Dmitry Popov
•If I file an amended return just for the stimulus credit, will that affect any other parts of my tax situation from that year? I'm worried about opening a can of worms or triggering an audit.
0 coins
Sofia Morales
•Filing an amended return for just the Recovery Rebate Credit shouldn't affect other aspects of your tax situation if that's the only change you're making. You'll need to complete the entire 1040-X form, but you'll only be changing the specific line related to the credit. The amendment itself doesn't increase your audit risk if the claim is legitimate. Just make sure you have documentation showing you were eligible and didn't receive the payment. The IRS should have records of which payments were issued to you, but having your own bank statements as backup is always smart.
0 coins
Ava Garcia
Has anyone else noticed that the GetMyPayment tool on the IRS website is completely useless now? I tried using it to check my stimulus payment status and it's not even available anymore. How are we supposed to confirm what we received if the IRS took down their own tracking tool??
0 coins
StarSailor}
•You can check your IRS online account instead. Go to irs.gov and look for "View Your Account." You'll need to create an ID.me account if you don't have one, but once you're in, you can see all the payments that were issued to you including all stimulus payments. It's actually more reliable than the old GetMyPayment tool was.
0 coins