You should not amend a tax return until you have received the federal tax refund or any taxes owed and paid have been processed by the IRS.
You do not amend your federal tax return for the unemployment compensation exclusion. The IRS is processing tax returns which have unemployment compensation entered on the filed 2020 tax return. The IRS has started sending tax refunds based on the exclusion during the month of May.
Go to this IRS website for information on the exclusion and refunds - https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-begins-correcting-tax-returns-for-unemployment-compensation-income-...
Go to this IRS website for operational status - https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-operations-during-covid-19-mission-critical-functions-continue
As of May 15, 2021, we had 300,000 individual tax returns received prior to 2021 in the processing pipeline. Including current year returns, as of May 15, 2021, we had 16.4 million unprocessed individual returns in the pipeline. Unprocessed returns include those requiring correction to the Recovery Rebate Credit amount or validation of 2019 income used to figure the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Additional Child Tax Credit (ACTC). This work does not require us to correspond with taxpayers but does require special handling by an IRS employee so, in these instances, it is taking the IRS more than 21 days to issue any related refund. If, as a result, a correction is made to any RRC, EITC or ACTC claimed on the return, the IRS will send taxpayers an explanation. Taxpayers are encouraged to continue to check Where’s My Refund? for their personalized refund status and can review Tax Season Refund Frequently Asked Questions.
