Reporting Social Security Disability overpayment for taxes when previous disability income was not taxed?

[CMNeedtaxHelp99]

Just to clarify, I am currently self employed and I plan on taking the standard deduction.

Starting in 2018 until mid 2020, I used to receive social security disability and SSI as my only forms of income. I never received enough SSI or social security disability to have to file taxes for those years so I did not. This disability income was never taxed as it never met the amount needed to be taxed. I had never worked before either, so I had no income or anything else to report for tax reasons. 

There was a miscalculation that resulted in an overpayment which I am now paying back, I started paying this back in summer 2022. I have received an SSA-1099 showing what I have repaid so far with a negative number for box.5.

I am reading that I need to report this on Form 1040 lines A, 6a and I need to put a -0- for 6b.

Is there anything else I need to do with this or do I just need to report it there and that is it? I’m reading about itemized deductions for the social security disability overpayments, but in those cases the disability was previously subjected to tax. This sounds like this will not apply to me, correct? 

The amount paid this year is not over $3,000.

[MonikaK1 · Accepted solution]

You read correctly. Because you didn't previously report the payments as income, you can't deduct the repayments.

When you’ve had to repay more than $3,000 that you had included in your income in a prior year, you may be able to deduct the amount, or take a credit against your tax, in the year you repaid the income.  See Repayments in Publication 525, Taxable and Nontaxable Income for more information.

To enter your repayment information in TurboTax Online:

1. If you’re on the Hi TurboTax Client, let's keep working on your taxes! screen, click the Pick up where you left off button
2. Click Federal in the left pane, if you’re not already there
3. Click Deductions & Credits in the banner
4. Scroll down and click Show more to the right of Other Deductions and Credits
5. Click Start to the right of Other Deductible Expenses
6. Proceed through the screens until you get to the Did you have any of these less common expenses? screen.  If your repayment amount was $3,000 or less, answer Yes.  Otherwise, answer No.
7. On the next screen, Did you have any of these other expenses?, answer Yes if your repayment amount was over $3,000.
8. Report your repayment amount in the Claim of right repayment over $3,000 box, then select Continue at the bottom of the screen.

See also this thread for more discussion on this topic.