Should I have paid the "amount owed" in federal tax even though I'm actually due a refund for the unemployment exemption?

[jamie_ruder]

I filed prior to the $10,200 exemption for unemployment, and owed $522 at the time.  However with the exemption, we're owed a refund of around $900.  Because of this, I did not send in a payment to the IRS for the "amount owed" because we were told not to amend and that the IRS would correct it.  Today, I received a letter saying I owe $522 + interest - presumably because they haven't processed our return yet (married-joint).  Am I actually expected to send in $522 that I don't owe simply because I filed before the exemption was announced, or will the IRS correct that part too when they correct the rest of our return?

[Carl]

No one here or at TurboTax can help you with this. You need to call the IRS directly and speak with a human. Best of luck with that, as you can expect to be on hold for quite a long time. The number is 1-800-829-1040.

If you actually do speak with a human, your first two questions need to be "To whom am I speaking please?" and "where are you physically located on planet earth right now?", and make sure you document your conversation.

[xmasbaby0]

We are starting to see a lot of questions like yours.   Since you prepared your tax return and filed before the tax law changed for the tax on unemployment, you owed tax due and then learned you should not owe so much or might even get a refund---so you did not pay your tax due by the May 17 deadline.   Now the IRS computers are churning out notices to people who did not pay their tax due.

Eventually---sometime during the summer--- the IRS will recalculate the amounts of tax due or refunds for people whose returns were filed before the law changed----but it may take a few more months.

Call the number on the notice you received from the IRS----it will probably be hard to get through---but be tenacious.

[fanfare]

You are relying on the IRS to reconcile your account finally, and all your penalties and interest will be zeroed out.

No reason to think that won't happen, right?