Anyone Get Their Child Tax Credit Refund Yet ? (1 Viewer)

[Alex S]

I heard they were supposed to start in July.

Anyone get their $400 per child tax credit yet?

 

[ken thompson]

Yup.

 

[Alex S]

When did you get it Ken ?

 

[Carl Miller]

I got $400 yesterday (the mailings started on the 25th), but was denied $400 for my other child because there was a mistake made in the processing of my original return.

I put my daughters social security # correctly on the return, but the IRS made an error inputting it. Several weeks after I filed I got a notice they disallowed my daughters exemption. I called, got it corrected and thought we were done with it.

Now I get this check which is half what I thought it would be. So I called, and the customer rep told me that the credit is based on your original return, and since I made an error with my daughters SS#, I'd have to wait till next year to get the child tax credit for her.

I work for the IRS, so I know there's no use in fighting this, and it's really no big deal...But it does irritate me that I didn't make the error to begin with, and now have to wait until next year to claim the extra $400.

Go figure.

 

[Christ Reynolds]

I work for the IRS, so I know there's no use in fighting this

this doesn't make me feel very good

CJ

 

[Patrick Larkin]

Carl - you didn't file electronically? Input error?

The mailings depend on the last 2 digits of your social security number. The schedule I saw last week said my refund wouldn't go out until Aug 8 or something.

Edit...here's the schedule based on the last 2 digits of SSN:

00-33 -- mailed July 25
34-66 -- mailed August 1
67-99 -- mailed August 8

 

[Carl Miller]

Carl - you didn't file electronically? Input error?

No, I file on paper. People enter certain info from a paper return manually, into a database. Whoever entered the SS # for my daughter during processing made a mistake. The number I puton the return was correct. But the number which ended up in the database wasn't even close to her number, and got rejected when the computer picked up that the last name on our return for my daughter didn't match the last name for the SS #. It's convuluted I know, but that's how it works...or doesn't work in this case.

 

[DanaA]

I guess I'm still not understanding at all why you can't challenge this successfully. All they'd have to do is check your original to see if you put in the correct information. If it was their mistake, they should fix the problem period. They sure as heck ain't always forgiving of mistakes made by the public. This just seems totally wrong.

In other words, if I ran a car repair place and accidentally, at my fault, destroyed a customer's engine, it wouldn't wash at all if I said, "I'm not going to fix the problem. I haven't made a provision to do so." It doesn't shift liability because a company or an agency hasn't done the forethought, especially when human error on their part should be easily foreseeable.

 

[Chris]

Because, as far as the govt. is concerned, he has challenged it successfully, and he will be able to collect on the added $400 back onto his tax return in January, or whenever he files next.. since this is an advance on your estimated tax return, they will not correct an advance, but they won't contest you claiming on your next return

 

[DanaA]

Okay,

Now I get it.

 

[Carl Miller]

I guess I'm still not understanding at all why you can't challenge this successfully. All they'd have to do is check your original to see if you put in the correct information. If it was their mistake, they should fix the problem period. They sure as heck ain't always forgiving of mistakes made by the public. This just seems totally wrong.

I'll explain it. Just please keep in mind that I agree with you in principle.

If you file a paper return, the info from it whether correctly transferred or not goes onto the database. Your paper return then gets filed away, while the numbers from your return end up in the database. Hopefully, these numbers are transfered correctly, and the accuracy rate is quite high but far from perfect.

When I first got a letter about the problem with my return back in April, I simply called, gave the correct number and the necessary info. The problem was manually corrected by a customer service rep to get me the rest of my refund, but the return itself which is on the database remains unchanged from how it was orginally filed, error included.

And that's where the problem is. We're talking about a 40 year old computer system, and there is no way to make the correction you, and I think should have been made...One that is system-wide and actually replaces the incorrect info with the correct info. There is simply no function to accomplish that task on the current system.

This means that in order for me to get the $400 I'm still entitled to now, there would have to be another manual correction to my account...A rep would have to fix this manually the same way they fixed the problem when they disallowed the exemption for my daughter.

But the reps aren't allowed to do this, because Congress made no provision for it when the credit was created. So what it boils down to is whether or not you want to take on Congress in a quest to right a wrong.

I'd rather just wait till next year

 

[Craig Robertson]

i got my $1200 check on the 26th.

 

[Steve Clark]

I received my $1,200 check on July 29. Plan on spending every penney of it on household items such as appliances and electronics.

 

[Chris_Morris]

Got a letter on July 24 stating the $400 had been applied to the balance I owed.


Chris

 

[John_Bonner]

Got my $800 on Monday. Since it was for my children it's going right into their savings.

 

[Chris Beveridge]

Forget the kids. Daddy needs a new plasma tv!

 

[Alex S]

For those who have gotten it already is the last 2 digits of your SS# between 00 and 33 ?

 

[Seth--L]

So much for it being used on your kids.

 

[Steve Clark]

For those who have gotten it already is the last 2 digits of your SS# between 00 and 33

Yes, my SSN ends in 09.

 

[Danny R]

So much for it being used on your kids

When the kids pay their own taxes they can get their own money back.

I don't have kids, but I have noticed that the withholding portion of the tax bill is also in effect, as I'm getting about $15 more per check. $15 x 26 checks remaining this year = $390