How do you know if you get a unemployment refund?

[rjs]

You will get a federal income tax refund for the unemployment exclusion if all of the following are true.

• You reported unemployment benefits as income on your 2020 tax return, on Schedule 1 line 7.
• You did not get the unemployment exclusion on the 2020 tax return that you filed. The unemployment exclusion would appear as a negative amount on Schedule 1 line 8, with the abbreviation UCE on the dotted line to the left of the amount.
• Your tax on Form 1040 line 16 is not zero.
• Your Adjusted Gross Income (AGI), not including unemployment, is less than $150,000. In other words, Form 1040 line 11 minus Schedule 1 line 7 is less than $150,000.

If all four of those conditions are true, The IRS will recalculate your tax return and send you the refund. It might be a couple of months before you get it. For more information see the following IRS announcements and FAQ.

IRS to recalculate taxes on unemployment benefits; refunds to start in May

IRS begins correcting tax returns for unemployment compensation income exclusion

IRS continues unemployment compensation adjustments, prepares another 1.5 million refunds

2020 Unemployment Compensation Exclusion FAQs

[Hal_Al]

Q. How do I know if I should be expecting additional refund based on the (up to) $10,200 unemployment exclusion? 

A. Prepare a test return with $10,200 less income  and compare the result to the original return.  You can use this tool 

https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tools/calculators/taxcaster/?s=1

If your tax liability was already zero (line 16 of form 1040), it's unlikely that you will be getting more.  But, it's possible, particularly if you become eligible for more EIC.