I forgot to add unemployment to my taxes and already filed - what now?
I messed up bad on my taxes this year. I was in a hurry to get them done like I always am, and completely blanked on including my unemployment income from when I was furloughed last spring. I used TurboTax and my return has already been accepted, which is confusing to me - shouldn't the IRS system flag that I received unemployment but didn't report it? I tried looking into amending my return through TurboTax, but when I searched for the 2024 tax year, nothing useful came up. The site mentioned something about having 2 years to amend, but I have absolutely no idea what that means or what steps I need to take now. Our education system really failed at teaching any practical financial skills! I'm especially worried because I did have taxes withheld from my unemployment payments, but I'm guessing I still need to officially report that income. What should I do once I receive my refund? Should I just wait for the IRS to catch the mistake? I feel like I seriously screwed myself over here.
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Avery Saint
That unemployment oversight happens more than you'd think! The IRS accepting your return doesn't mean they've verified everything - they'll process it first, then potentially flag discrepancies later through document matching. Yes, you definitely need to file an amended return (Form 1040-X) to report the unemployment income. The "2 years" reference is about the deadline - you generally have 3 years from the original filing date to submit amendments for refunds, but it's best to fix this sooner. Don't panic though! Since you already had taxes withheld from your unemployment benefits, the actual difference you'll owe might be less than you fear. The amendment will recalculate everything and show the true amount. Here's what you should do: Get a copy of your 1099-G showing the unemployment income and withholding, then file the amended return. Don't wait for the IRS to catch it - being proactive looks much better than waiting for them to discover the omission.
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Taylor Chen
•Thanks for explaining. Quick question - if I file the amendment, will I still get my original refund while they process the amended one? Or will they hold everything until it's all sorted out? Also, will I get hit with penalties for this mistake?
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Avery Saint
•Your original refund process will continue normally - the amendment is handled separately. The IRS will process your initial return and send your original refund, then process the amendment afterwards. Regarding penalties, since you're correcting this voluntarily before any IRS notice, you'll likely just owe the additional tax plus interest from the original due date. The interest rate is currently around 7%, so fixing this quickly minimizes that cost. Substantial penalties typically only apply when people ignore notices or deliberately hide income.
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Keith Davidson
I had almost the exact situation last year with missing unemployment income. I tried for weeks to figure out how to amend through TurboTax and kept hitting walls. Then I found https://taxr.ai which was a complete game-changer. I uploaded my tax documents (including the 1099-G I initially forgot) and their system immediately identified the issue and showed me exactly what to fix. The tool walked me through exactly what forms needed to be amended and calculated the difference I would owe. It was seriously way less stressful than trying to navigate the TurboTax amendment maze. They even generated a pre-filled 1040-X form that I could just review and submit.
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Ezra Bates
•How accurate is it though? I'm dealing with a similar issue but I have state unemployment from two different states plus some gig work. Can it handle complicated situations like that?
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Ana Erdoğan
•Does it work for other tax years too? I just realized I messed up some home office deductions on my 2023 return and need to amend that one too.
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Keith Davidson
•The accuracy is impressive - it cross-references all your forms to identify discrepancies. For your multi-state scenario with unemployment from two states plus gig work, it would actually be perfect since it's designed to catch those complex situations where income is coming from multiple sources. Yes, it absolutely works for other tax years! You can upload your 2023 return documents for the home office deduction amendment. It handles all common tax years and will guide you through the specific rules that apply to each tax period, which is especially helpful since deduction rules sometimes change year to year.
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Ezra Bates
Just wanted to update that I actually tried https://taxr.ai after seeing it mentioned here. My situation was pretty complicated with unemployment from both California and Arizona plus some DoorDash income I wasn't sure how to report correctly. Uploaded all my docs and within minutes it showed me exactly what I'd messed up on my original filing. The amendment process was way easier than I expected. The system calculated I actually overpaid slightly since I had extra withholding on the unemployment that wasn't accounted for. Already got confirmation my amendment was accepted and I'm getting a small additional refund instead of owing more! Definitely less stressful than I thought it would be.
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Sophia Carson
Hey, I went through something similar last year with missing unemployment income. After struggling to get answers from the IRS (literally spent hours on hold), someone recommended I try https://claimyr.com to get through to an actual IRS agent. You can see how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c I was skeptical but desperate after my 5th failed attempt to reach someone. The service actually called the IRS for me, navigated all the phone tree nonsense, and then called me when they got a real human on the line. The IRS agent walked me through exactly what forms I needed and confirmed I didn't need to wait for any notices before amending. Saved me hours of frustration and uncertainty. The agent even gave me some tips about what supporting documents to include with my amendment to speed up processing.
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Elijah Knight
•Wait, I don't understand how this works. How can they get through when nobody else can? Sounds kinda sketchy tbh. The IRS phone lines are a disaster for everyone.
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Brooklyn Foley
•Yeah right. Nothing gets you through to the IRS faster. They're probably just taking your money and you're still waiting on hold like the rest of us peasants. I'll believe it when I see an actual IRS human before the heat death of the universe.
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Sophia Carson
•The service uses an automated system that continuously redials and navigates the IRS phone tree until it gets through. It's basically doing what you'd do manually but with technology that can keep trying when lines are busy. It's not skipping any lines - just handling the frustrating part of constant redialing and menu navigation. I had the exact same reaction initially, but it's actually legit. The reason it works is pure persistence - they keep trying when most humans would give up. When I tried calling myself, I'd get the "call volumes too high" message and get disconnected. Their system just keeps trying until it finds an opening, then connects you directly with the agent. Literally saved me days of frustration.
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Brooklyn Foley
OK I have to eat crow here. After my skeptical comment, I decided to try Claimyr just to prove it wouldn't work. Well... I'm shocked. Within 27 minutes I was actually speaking to a real IRS person. TWENTY-SEVEN MINUTES. After spending literally 3 separate days trying to call myself last month. The agent confirmed I could file my amendment for the missing unemployment income right away and didn't need to wait for a notice. She even told me about a special processing code to write on the top of my 1040-X to indicate it was for unreported unemployment that would help route it correctly. Not something I would have known otherwise. So yeah... I was wrong and I admit it. If you need actual IRS guidance on your situation, this actually works.
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Jay Lincoln
Does anyone know if there's a way to check if the IRS already knows about the unemployment income? Like is there some online account where I can see what income has been reported under my SSN? I'm in a similar situation where I forgot to include my unemployment.
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Jessica Suarez
•Yes! Create an account on irs.gov and access your "Tax Records". There's a section called "Wage & Income Transcript" that shows all income reported to the IRS under your SSN including W-2s, 1099s, etc. If your unemployment 1099-G is showing up there, then yes, the IRS knows about it. That's also why they'll eventually catch the discrepancy - they have the info but will take time to match it against what you reported. Way better to fix it yourself before they send a notice.
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Jay Lincoln
•Thanks for this info! I just checked my transcript and yep, there it is - my 1099-G from unemployment is definitely showing up. Guess I better get that amendment filed asap before they come after me.
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Marcus Williams
Don't stress too much. I forgot unemployment on my 2022 taxes and the IRS just sent me a letter like 8 months later saying "we think you owe this amount" and they calculated it all for me. I just had to pay what they said plus a small interest charge. Wasn't a big deal tbh.
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Lily Young
•Yeah but waiting for them to catch it means you'll definitely pay interest on what you owe. The interest starts accruing from the original due date. If you amend now you still pay interest but for a shorter time period = less money.
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