Filed Ammended Return, then recieved CP21B

[camdids]

On 4/8/21, I filed an amended return due to my employer missing a weeks payroll.(w2c).

I have not received the small refund that Turbotax came up with.

However, I received a refund last week, which is more than that and now a letter, a CP21B, stating a refund due to tax law changes to correct unemployment compensation..

Note , I was unemployed for two weeks early in 2020 due to covid.

What changes could have given me this refund and should i be bothered about not having received the amended refund yet.

[xmasbaby0 · Accepted solution]

Here is why you got that "extra" refund for unemployment:

 The IRS is recalculating refunds for people whose AGI is $150K or below and who filed before the tax law that changed the amount of unemployment that is taxable on a federal return became effective.   

The IRS began to send out the additional refund checks for tax withheld from unemployment in May.  The refunds are being sent out in batches—starting with the simplest returns first.   If you are eligible for the extra refund for federal tax that was withheld from your unemployment the IRS will be sending you an additional refund sometime during the next several months.  TurboTax cannot track or predict when it will be sent.  The IRS has not provided a way for you to track it, so all you can do is wait for the refund to arrive.

https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/tax-topics/help/how-do-i-get-the-new-unemployment-benefits-if-i-ve...

Please read this very recent news from the IRS:

https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-to-recalculate-taxes-on-unemployment-benefits-refunds-to-start-in-m...

https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-begins-correcting-tax-returns-for-unemployment-compensation-income-...

https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/tax-credits-and-deductions/help/am-i-eligible-for-a-new-credit-or-...

https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/2020-unemployment-compensation-exclusion-faqs

As for your amended return:

Even during “normal” times it takes about four months for the IRS to process an amended return.  During the pandemic and due to the severe backlog at the IRS it is taking much longer—six months or more for many amended returns.  Do not expect quick results from amending.  When the IRS issues a refund for an amended return it will be by check.  They do not make direct deposits for refunds for amended returns.  You can watch for information here:

https://www.irs.gov/Filing/Individuals/Amended-Returns-(Form-1040-X)/Wheres-My-Amended-Return-1

[rjs · Accepted solution]

The tax law change is Section 9042 of the American Rescue Plan Act, which retroactively excludes from tax up to $10,200 of unemployment benefits if your Adjusted Gross Income (AGI), not including unemployment, is less than $150,000. This change is for 2020 only. The American Rescue Plan Act was signed into law on March 11, 2021, but it took a couple of weeks after that for the tax software companies to update their software.

I suspect that the IRS might have held your amended return until they recalculated your original return for the unemployment exclusion, but that's just speculation on my part.