Deductions & credits

Taxable earned income includes:

Wages, salaries, tips, and other taxable employee compensation; Union strike benefits; Disability retirement benefits received prior to minimum retirement age;  (See definition of statutory employee on our Helpful Definitions and Acronyms for the EITC page)

This new lookback rule, which was part of the Taxpayer Certainty and Disaster Tax Relief Act of 2020, may allow certain taxpayers to claim these valuable credits based on their 2019 earned income when it is higher than their 2020 earned income.

TurboTax allows you to amend your return free.  So, you should use the system to play with the numbers to see what works best.  Since you have used Turbotax all of the information is there already and all you have to do is:

1. Sign in to TurboTax.
2. Scroll down to Your tax return & documents (you may need to select Show), select 2020 and then Amend (change) return.
   • If you only see the option to amend 2019 or earlier, it's because you can't amend an unfiled 2020 return. Instead, just select Pick up where you left off, make your changes, and disregard the rest of these instructions.
3. Select Amend using TurboTax Online.
4. Carefully follow the instructions. Don't worry if your refund changes to $0. This is normal on amended returns.
5. You can e-file your 2020 amended federal tax return, but most states require amendments to be printed and filed by mail.
6. If e-filing, you’ll review, sign and transmit your federal return. If not, we'll give you instructions to print and mail your amended return.

Three weeks after mailing your amended return, you can start tracking it at the IRS Where's My Amended Return? tracking tool.  Please allow at least 16 weeks for the IRS to process your amended return.

Processing times for amended state returns vary from state to state. If it's been more than 12 weeks since you mailed your amended state return, and you haven't heard anything, we suggest you contact your state tax agency.