You enter repaid unemployment only in your tax return for the year that you actually repay it. You do not enter an amount just because you owe it. If you do not repay the full amount in one calendar year, you will enter repaid unemployment in more than one year. You enter the amount that you actually repaid each year.
If you repay unemployment benefits that you reported as income in a previous year, and the amount you repay in any one year is $3,000 or less, you do not get any tax adjustment for it. You might as well not even enter the repayment of $3,000 or less, because it won't go anywhere on your tax return. It will not make any difference in your tax or your refund.
If you repay unemployment benefits that you reported as income in a previous year, and the amount you repay in one year is more than $3,000, the it is what's called a "claim of right repayment." You can claim either an itemized deduction or a refundable credit in the year that you repaid it. If you simply enter it as repaid unemployment TurboTax will always treat it as an itemized deduction. That's easy, but it will not reduce your tax or increase your refund unless you have enough other itemized deductions to exceed your standard deduction. Claiming the credit is more complicated. TurboTax will not calculate the credit for you. You have to calculate it yourself. And you cannot claim the credit in TurboTax Online. You have to use the CD/Download TurboTax software. See the following FAQ for instructions to claim either the itemized deduction or the refundable credit.
What is a claim of right repayment?
