The only way to know is to look at your 2011 return, but if they are paying you now, why would have received that amount in 2011? You may have gotten a payment, but it is unlikely they paid you the same amount twice.
This is simply a one-time Social Security payment
that you received for prior-year benefits. This is called a lump-sum payment.
When someone is granted disability benefits, for example, they will receive a
lump sum to cover the entire time since they first applied for disability; this
period could cover months or years.
When figuring the taxable portion
of social security benefits, two options are available for lump-sum benefit
payments:
- The first option allows the taxpayer to report the whole payment in
the year it was received. When the taxpayer chooses this option, complete
the Social Security Benefits Worksheet as usual by including the entire
lump-sum payment on line 1.
- The second option is to treat the payment as received in the
earlier year or years. This is done by figuring whether any part of these
benefits is taxable, based on the earlier year's income. Any part that is
taxable is then added to any taxable benefits for the current year and
included on Form 1040, line 20b. The taxpayer can elect this method if it
lowers the taxable benefits. You will need your tax returns from each year in order to do this.
If the
taxpayer chooses the second option, only the current year income will be
adjusted. Do not file amended returns for the earlier years.
Follow
along with these steps and the screenshots below (which are listed in the order
you should encounter them in your return). If you have any other details
regarding this question, please feel free to post them in the comment section.
Of course, your numbers and years may be different than the description below.
- After you enter your 2018
SSA-1099 information, we'll ask if you received a lump-sum Social Security
payment. Answer Yes and follow the onscreen instructions.
- Your SSA-1099 lump-sum
section breaks down the payments into what amount was received for each
preceding year. You can only enter one year at a time. Start
with 201x. (earliest year)
- On the next screen, Enter your
201x lump-sum payments received in 2018 and Continue
- When finished with
201x, click Add Another Lump Sum if you need to enter benefits
received for a different tax year (201y)
- Now simply do the same thing
that you just did for 201x, but use the relevant numbers for the next year
(e.g.201y).
