Many people had lower incomes during the pandemic in 2020 due to reduced work hours, layoffs, etc. Or they received unemployment benefits. These factors affect how much earned income credit and additional child tax credit you can get on your 2020 tax return and affect your 2020 refund.
There is a “lookback” option that allows you to use your 2019 amounts for earned income credit or child tax credit. You can choose whether to use your 2019 amount or your 2020 amount. Choose whichever amount gives you a better tax refund for your 2020 refund.
You can see this and choose in the earned income credit section in Deductions and Credits.
You still MUST enter all of your 2020 income into your 2020 tax return, including any unemployment you received.
As part of the COVID relief last signed two weeks ago, you can use the 2019 income if it of benefit to you...just follow the questions in TT.
From one of the TTX help pages explaining this:
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"Special Lookback for Earned Income Tax Credit and the Child Tax Credit
This is a very important provision which has the potential to help workers who experienced lower income in 2020, or received unemployment income in lieu of their regular wages, get bigger tax credits and larger refunds in the coming year.
The special lookback rule will allow lower income individuals to use their earned income from 2019 to determine their Earned Income Tax Credit and the refundable portion of the Child Tax Credit in 2020, since their lower 2020 income could reduce the amount they are eligible for.
The Earned Income Tax Credit is the country’s largest program for working people with low to moderate income. More than 25 million eligible tax filers received federal Earned Income Tax Credit last tax season and the average Earned Income Tax Credit was $2,476 per filer."
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https://blog.turbotax.intuit.com/tax-news/new-coronavirus-relief-package-passed-what-does-it-mean-fo...
