Another twist to Stimulus Refund ??

[Mike Mac]

Does anyone know for sure if IRS has programmed their computers to recognized that a taxpayer qualifies for an advance refund based on SS payments in excess of $3,000 shown on 20a of an E-FILED 1040 this tax season? I’ve got a number of retired clients who have interest/dividend/pension income (all unearned income) that require them to file but would not qualify them for the Advance Refund.

I have read that IRS needs to have a paper copy of 1040A marked appropriately “Economic Stimulus” on top indicating it was filed only to get the advance refund. What about the above situation where, even though the taxpayer must file, the only qualifying income is Social Security payments? Do we also have to file one of those paper 1040A’s or wait until we file their 2008 return to claim the refund at that time?

Thanks for your thoughts and clarifications.

Mike

[Kram BergGold]

Prebate

If you are filing a return and none of the social security is taxable you just have to make sure the amount received shows up on line 20a. If at least $3,000 is taxable you are all set.

[JG EA]

And you can Efile it also right?

[Mike Mac]

$3,000 SS in NOT taxable

I'm a bit confused by your reply. My reading of the information is that one way to qualify for the Stimulus Payment was to have gross SS payments of at least $3,000. It does not have to be taxable, thus it shows in box 20a and not necessarily in 20b.

This jist of my question is if IRS will pick up on the amount shown in 20a if no other income on an EFILED return has already been sent in.

Thanks,

[BP.]

Does anyone know for sure if IRS has programmed their computers to recognized that a taxpayer qualifies for an advance refund based on SS payments in excess of $3,000 shown on 20a of an E-FILED 1040 this tax season? I’ve got a number of retired clients who have interest/dividend/pension income (all unearned income) that require them to file but would not qualify them for the Advance Refund.

I have read that IRS needs to have a paper copy of 1040A marked appropriately “Economic Stimulus” on top indicating it was filed only to get the advance refund. What about the above situation where, even though the taxpayer must file, the only qualifying income is Social Security payments? Do we also have to file one of those paper 1040A’s or wait until we file their 2008 return to claim the refund at that time?

Thanks for your thoughts and clarifications.

Mike

From IRS' FS-2008-16:

“For purposes of meeting the qualifying income requirement, the following benefits need to be reported in any combination on Line 20a of Form 1040:

Social Security benefits reported on the 2007 Form 1099-SSA.”

Also from the same source:

"Some recipients of the benefits described above may have filed a 2007 tax return reporting at least $3,000 in qualifying income. They do not need to do anything else."

Full article here:

http://www.irs.gov/irs/article/0,,id=179096,00.html

[ecb34691]

Cant e-file a zero AGI return, so you must have other income. Done several with small amounts of interest and 1099R income and all accepted. Just hope IRS is "on the ball and remembers these in May". They have indicated they are changing the system to accept zero AGI returns. Their message on the free e-file site, is don't use these at present if all you have is SSA/VA.

[JohnH]

Odd situation for line 20

I think any SS recipient who filed a tax return but who skipped entering the amount on Line 20a because they aren't required to enter anything on line 20b may have a problem, unless they had a tax liability exceeding the rebate they are entitled to. I believe these people will need to file a "Stimulus Return" to be sure they get the rebate.

[ChEAr$]

Do I remember this right?

Used to be, that if there was no social security taxable on the b line, we didn't have to enter the
gross on the a line.
Then, IF memory serves, IRS changed the instructions so as to require the SS benefit to be
entered on the a line in all events.

Of course I always did that even when it wasn't required.

[Larmil]

Used to be, that if there was no social security taxable on the b line, we didn't have to enter the
gross on the a line.
Then, IF memory serves, IRS changed the instructions so as to require the SS benefit to be
entered on the a line in all events.

Of course I always did that even when it wasn't required.

I remember those instructions were changed in 2006.

[Mike Mac]

Thanks BP

Thanks BP. The information from IRS that you referenced exactly answered what I was looking for.

Mike