I had a turbotax "helper" look over my taxes to help make sure I answered my questions correctly as I have extreme issues of self doubt. I thought I had most of it taken care of but forgot to fill out my American Opportunity Credit as I was a full time student and qualified. The problem is I was unsure if I had qualified for the refund portion of it as I had been on unemployment for the tax year that I was filing since I lost my job to the coronavirus. I had earned just under a grand in the tax year that I started receiving pandemic unemployment benefits for and I just learned this year that unemployment is considered unearned income. When I was referencing my previous tax year while filing this year I saw the question that asked "Did your earned income exceed one-half of your support?" and it was answered "Yes"on last years return. Now that I have clarification around this question I have no idea why she would have filled out yes unless the questions she asked me determined that I did support myself half way. I have been able to support myself through savings, UI benefits, grants/scholarships and loans. I realize none of these are earned income and I am worried how I will be penalized for this mistake. Even worse, because she was an individual who I accessed through the chat help function (but had control over my form and filled things out for me) my tax form says, "self prepared". So I have no proof that this was a mistake made on her part and I worry that this will create issues for me. This was an unintentional mistake and I have never had to amend a tax return before. What should I do? Will I be harshly penalized? What are the interests rates for something like this a year and a half out from filing?
