Confused about NY unemployment tax exclusion and if it's already in my refund

If you filed after March 11th when Biden signed that American Rescue Plan, your refund should already include the tax break for unemployment. I filed on April 15th (last minute as usual lol) and my tax preparer confirmed the 10,200 exclusion was already built into the calculation. The extra refunds are going to people who filed BEFORE the law changed.

After hours of trying to reach someone at the NY unemployment office to ask this exact question, I finally used this service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) and got a callback with an actual agent! They confirmed that if you filed after the exclusion was implemented, the refund already includes it. Best money I've spent to finally get a straight answer instead of endless hold music. Here's a video about how it works: https://youtu.be/Rdqa1gKtxuE

I'm in the same boat. Filed on April 1st and got a refund of $3,400 which was way higher than I expected. I think we're good - the exclusion was already calculated. But the whole thing is confusing AF.

Look at line 8 on your 1040. If it shows your unemployment compensation with the reduction already applied, then you got it. You'd see the total unemployment you received, then an adjustment bringing it down by the exclusion amount. That's how you can be 100% sure.

The NY unemployment system is SUCH A DISASTER!!! 🤬 I've had to call like 50 times for various issues and always get different answers. One agent told me to expect another refund and another said I already got it all. I don't trust anything they say anymore.

Here's what I learned after dealing with this exact situation: The $10,200 unemployment tax exclusion was part of the American Rescue Plan signed on March 11, 2021. If you filed your taxes AFTER this date, tax software and preparers should have automatically applied this exclusion to your unemployment income. Since you filed on April 3rd, your tax software (TurboTax) would have already calculated your refund WITH the exclusion applied. That's why your refund seemed higher than expected - you were already benefiting from not having to pay federal tax on up to $10,200 of your unemployment benefits. The people receiving additional refunds now filed BEFORE March 11th, when the law wasn't in place yet. The IRS is automatically recalculating their returns and sending additional refunds. If you want to double-check, look at your completed tax return and see if the full amount of unemployment was reported or if it was reduced by the exclusion. If you're still confused or worried, I'd recommend trying claimyr.com - they helped me get through to an actual tax specialist at the unemployment office who confirmed all this for me. Saved me days of stress trying to get answers. Hope this helps!

turbotax definitely included it already for me. i filed in mid april and they had a whole section just for the unemployment tax break when i was going through the questions.

It depends! I thought mine was included too but then I got a letter from IRS saying they were sending me another $1,240. My accountant said it depends on how complex your return was - some tax software didn't implement the changes correctly for certain situations. If ur worried maybe talk to a tax pro?

Yall getting refunds? 🤔 I OWE the govt $800 even with this so called tax break. NY unemployment system is a joke - they didn't take out enough taxes from my payments all year despite me selecting maximum withholding.

Anyone else notice that the NY unemployment portal is showing incorrect tax info? My 1099-G says I received $14,500 but I actually only got $12,800. Been trying to get someone to fix it for months. This whole system is broken beyond repair.

This whole tax exclusion thing has been so poorly communicated. Classic government move - pass something helpful then make it impossible to understand 🙄

TurboTax user here - filed April 10th and can confirm that the exemption was automatically included in my calculations. You can check by looking at your tax forms in your TurboTax account. The unemployment income should show the reduced amount.

Has anyone actually received a straight answer from calling NY unemployment about this? Their phone system is an absolute nightmare... 😤