Hello, any advice would be greatly appreciated. I filed early, my 2020 return was accepted on 2/19/2021. HOH, 1 dependent, low income, EITC and CTC already in place. I received Unemployment benefits and thought I would have the refund by now. I was under the impression I should not need to amend my return. Now that the fourth batch of these refunds has been released, I worry I am confused. I already ordered two transcripts from the IRS via mail, because I don't have a credit card to view my account online and for some annoying reason the irs.gov website doesn't recognize my student loan number.
I just want to know how to find out 1.) if I am getting money back, because I am eligible. 2.) do I need to amend? 3.) will the changes appear and be visible to TurboTax customers like myself via the TurboTax website? Will a new return displaying this update be visible and available for downloading if and after the IRS makes adjustments???
ANY advice appreciated. Can I tell for myself by viewing my return??? Lines 25b and 25d specifically are confusing me. (on 1040)
1) You will get an additional federal income tax refund for the unemployment exclusion if all of the following are true.
If all four of those conditions are true, The IRS will recalculate your tax return and send you an additional refund.
The IRS is still sending out refunds for the unemployment exclusion. They expect to continue through the summer. Summer ends September 22. Of course, that was just an estimate. It could end up taking longer than they expected. There is no way to tell when you will get your refund.
2) DO NOT amend your tax return. The IRS has clearly said that you should not amend unless the exclusion makes you eligible for a new credit that is not already on your tax return.
3) TurboTax does not get any information from the IRS about your additional refund for the unemployment exclusion. If you open your tax return in TurboTax you might see that TurboTax has recalculated the return to include the unemployment exclusion. But that has nothing to do with what the IRS is doing. It’s just a calculation that TurboTax makes.
Form 1040 lines 25b and 25d have nothing to do with the refund for the unemployment exclusion.
For more information see the following IRS announcements and FAQ.
IRS to recalculate taxes on unemployment benefits; refunds to start in May
IRS begins correcting tax returns for unemployment compensation income exclusion
IRS continues unemployment compensation adjustments, prepares another 1.5 million refunds
2020 Unemployment Compensation Exclusion FAQs
Thank you for responding. I'm sorry for my ignorance on this topic. I'm still confused, so all of the criteria is true except my line 16 is zero. Did I make a mistake? I had income in 2020, then lost my job and began receiving unemployment. I had 10% withholding. So am I now not getting the refund?
Is there a chance I could get anything back regarding the other credits I had? I really appreciate your time. Thanks for helping those of us who are lost this year.
I would be so grateful for any more clarification on why that line 16 is keeping me from the exclusion.
We got our refund but we haven't received our tax back on my unemployment. It's been almost a month now since we got refund. Why haven't we received refund on my unemployment?
The IRS is sending out the refunds for the unemployment exclusion over the course of the summer. Summer ends September 22. Of course, that is just an estimate. It could end up taking longer than they expected. There is no way to tell when you will get your refund for the unemployment exclusion.
For more information, see the IRS links in my first reply in this thread, above.
Are you sure you are getting one? I was certain I was but did you see the first response to my question? In the response it says if line 16 on schedule 1 is 0. Then you won't get the exclusion, do you know if that's accurate? I'm now doubting whether I'll be getting the refund because my line 16 is 0. I am so confused. Whoever posted that hasn't provided further info. Its crap.
Good luck.
Hello???? Are you available for more help? I posted a follow up to your original, much appreciated help. Curious, where are you getting this info? Is it listed on the website somewhere where it provides further explanation?
@TrRLsR wrote:
Are you sure you are getting one? I was certain I was but did you see the first response to my question? In the response it says if line 16 on schedule 1 is 0. Then you won't get the exclusion, do you know if that's accurate? I'm now doubting whether I'll be getting the refund because my line 16 is 0. I am so confused. Whoever posted that hasn't provided further info. Its crap.
Good luck.
I think you meant line 7 schedule 1, line 16 is self-employed health insurance.
I think I meant 1040 line 16, AGAIN, its in the first response to my original question. I'm looking for any answers, preferably not just pointing out my ignorance on the forms.
@TrRLsR wrote:
I think I meant 1040 line 16, AGAIN, its in the first response to my original question. I'm looking for any answers, preferably not just pointing out my ignorance on the forms.
I was responding to your last post where you said "I was certain I was but did you see the first response to my question? In the response it says if line 16 on schedule 1 is 0."
BTW the 1040 form line 16 is the tax on the line 15 income.
Your unemployment refund is based on the amount on the 1040 Schedule 1 line 7 (unemployment compensation). but the 1040 line 11 (AGI) must be less then $150,000 to qualify.
Thanks for being up late to chat on tt.....but you aren't answering my question. In the original answer to my original post, the person responding mentioned I was ineligible for the exclusion refund if line 16 was 0.
I'm not giving this info as fact, I'm questioning if that is true and wanting to understand why. The info looked like it was being pulled from the turbo tax website.
So according to you, if I have unemployment compensation I qualify, even if I had federal withholding throughout that compensation? Maybe for some reason I'm not getting a refund, but I'm trying to find out based on the RESPONSE TO MY QUESTION. There were 4 requirements listed, I'm asking why they mention line 16???!!! Do you know or can you just read what the form reads as the line 16 description? Because I can read that too, I'm looking for actual explanation to that line 16 @0. Deal.
) You will get an additional federal income tax refund for the unemployment exclusion if all of the following are true.
If all four of those conditions are true, The IRS will recalculate your tax return and send you an additional refund.
As I said, the 1040 line 16 is the tax on the line 15 income. If line 16 is zero then you owed, and paid no tax, so there is nothing to refund. You can only get a refund of taxes paid and if you paid nothing then there is nothing to refund.
Do you know why I would owe no tax? I'm still confused because federal withholding was deducted with each employment check and I had self employment income that was also taxed.
Additionally, do you know if the exclusion will lower my eic?
@ TrRLsR Biden signed a bill and when he did we got more stimulus money and in that bill any tax paid on unemployment we were getting back also. BUT there was a Limit on how much unemployment you received in order for that to happen.
@ TrRLsR Yes I am sure that I am getting back the taxes I paid on unemployment. I had them take a certain amount out each week and I met the guidelines given.
I know that some was getting their refunds back and then they would get another refund and I was assuming it was the refund on the taxes they paid on unemployment.
@TrRLsR wrote:
Do you know why I would owe no tax?
What is on Form 1040 line 15? That's your taxable income. If 1040 line 15 is zero, you paid no income tax because you had no taxable income.
Even if you paid no income tax, you still have to pay self-employment tax if your net self-employment income was more than $432. Self-employment tax is on Schedule 2 line 4. Self-employment tax is separate from income tax. You pay self-employment tax on your self-employment income, not on your unemployment. You don't get a refund of the self-employment tax.
Part of the tax that was withheld was used to pay your self-employment tax. If your tax (Form 1040 line 16) is zero, you already got a refund of all the tax that was withheld, other than what was applied to the self-employment tax. There is no more tax left to be refunded.
@flamingo1953 wrote:
any tax paid on unemployment we were getting back
No, you don't get back "any tax paid on unemployment." You get back the tax you paid on up to $10,200 of unemployment income. Any unemployment over $10,200 is still taxable.
The tax that you paid on your unemployment is not the same as the tax that was withheld from your unemployment. The withholding is just an advance payment towards any tax you might have to pay. The actual tax on your unemployment, and on any other income, is calculated on your tax return.
If Form 1040 line 16 is zero, you did not actually pay any income tax on your unemployment or on anything else. You already got a refund of all the tax that was withheld. Since you didn't pay any income tax, there is nothing left to be refunded.
@rjs We got refunded all the tax that we had coming on our income for 2020. As far as I know you withhold money from unemployment cause it would be the money you would have to pay in taxes so that you don't have to pay at the end of the year. With what I had withheld during the weeks I drew unemployment is what I will be getting back. We never had any taxes on our unemployment taken out, we had to withhold money each week so when the end of the year came we didn't have to pay that tax.
Help! Late to the game here. My 2020 return meets all 4 criteria for the unemployment tax refund yet I have not yet seen one. My return was very simple, below the income threshold. Is it time to amend?
There is not a ''unemployment tax refund'' for 2020. Here is what happened. A lot of people collected unemployment in 2020. Unemployment income is generally taxable income. However, in 2020, the IRS allowed the first $10,200 of unemployment compensation to be 'tax-free'. If you filed early and did not get the tax break when you filed, the IRS adjusted those returns and refunded taxpayers without the need for an amended tax return being filed. If you filed after they made the change, TurboTax was updated to provide the tax exclusion, so no amending is necessary.
So, it is unlikely you need to amend. If your total income was below the filing threshold, you would not have had a tax liability anyway and would have been refunded any tax withheld from your unemployment.
You will need to look at your tax return and refund to determine whether or not you should be expecting anything in the way of an ''unemployment tax refund'' or if there is a need to contact them. Look at your Form 1040 from 2020, how much unemployment was reported as taxable income on Line 8? Also, if you did not have federal income tax withheld from your unemployment payments, there is nothing to refund. Were federal taxes withheld?
So I know I am due a refund for having taxes taken out of my unemployment check and here it is 2020 June and I still haven't received any thing back , I am wondering if I need to file a amended return ? I could really use that money
There is no refund for having taxes withheld from your unemployment checks. The tax that is withheld from your unemployment is credited towards the tax on your tax return for the year.
Here it is June 2022, not 2020, but this thread, which was started nearly a year ago, is about the unemployment exclusion on 2020 federal tax returns. For 2020, up to $10,200 of unemployment compensation was excluded from federal taxable income. The law providing the exclusion was passed in 2021, after many people had already filed their 2020 tax returns. As DawnC explained in the post above yours, which you gave cheers to, the IRS automatically sent refunds to people who were entitled to the exclusion but didn't get it on their tax returns because they filed before the tax software was updated for the new law.
You should have gotten an additional refund from the IRS if all of the following are true.
Note that none of these four conditions has anything to do with the tax that was taken out of your unemployment checks. Also note that the unemployment exclusion applies only to unemployment benefits that you received in 2020. It does not apply to any other year.
If you have looked at your 2020 tax return and you think you should have gotten an additional refund based on the four conditions above, but you did not get it, check Your Online Account on the IRS web site to see if it says that they sent the refund to you. Also check your bank account records for 2020 and early 2021 to see if there was a deposit from the IRS. Note that the amount of the refund would be the amount by which the exclusion reduces the tax on your 2020 tax return. The refund would not be $10,200, and it would not be the amount of tax that was taken out of your unemployment checks.
The IRS has specifically said that you should not file an amended return to get the unemployment exclusion. If you are sure that you are due a refund, and you are sure that it was not sent to you, you will have to contact the IRS.