2020 Federal Return Unemployment Exclusion

[JeffSD619]

I never received my automatic refund due to the unemployment adjustment for my 2020 return. Should I file an amended return now.

[JohnW152]

Before you amend your return, it’s a good idea to make sure that you were actually eligible for the relief.  

Please check your information against the TurboTax Blog Unemployment Stimulus: Am I Eligible for the New Unemployment Income Relief? just to make sure.

If you’re certain you qualified for the relief, double-check to make sure that you didn’t get the refund.  You can check this by looking at your bank records, but what a lot of people are doing is setting up an online account with the IRS using its Your Online Account page.  

Using this portal will allow you to verify the status of your returns, and it has information on payments, refunds, stimulus, and more.  

To sign up, have your photo identification ready. More information about identity verification is available on the sign-in page.

Only when you verify that you qualified for the relief, and you actually didn’t receive it, should you consider amending your 2020 return.  You don’t want to waste your time if it’s not necessary.