IRS - Don't forget your economic recovery money.

You must file for the "making work pay" or you will NOT get credit for it and possibly end up paying more in tax and this means no refund if you were expecting one, instead having to send in more money.

They are very confusing on how they word this, giving the impression you don't file for it if you are receiving wages from an employer who does withholding.

No.

Instead the employer adjusts your withholding to account for it so you will have about the same refund or tax owed as expected before WHEN you claim the credit on the tax form. It's on the tax form for a reason and there's a worksheet, so make sure to do it. The only part about your employer is he was expected to reduce your withholding so you'd have gotten the economic benefit of the stimulus earlier than you'd otherwise have done so by getting it back only when filing your tax form.

For example; If your withholding would have resulted in a tax refund of $100 upon filing, then the stimulus money for a single person would make that $500 upon filing. So that the stimulus money would have more immediate effect, be available to workers quicker, the IRS sent updated withholding charts to employers so they'd withhold LESS during the year. That means when you did your tax form you'd still end up with the same $100 refund, but ONLY after also doing the worksheet and CLAIMING it. If you don't make the claim, then the example above will actually end up owing $300 to the IRS.