NY unemployment tax refund amount seems wrong - how to dispute the IRS calculation?

This is specifically an IRS issue, not a NYSDOL one. The IRS is the one who calculates and issues the tax break refunds. The first thing you should do is check your tax return and calculate how much tax you actually paid on the unemployment benefits that were excluded. There's a worksheet on the IRS website for this. Once you have that number, compare it to what you received. If there's a significant difference, you can call the IRS at the number on your refund notice.

we got ours last week and it was way smaller than we expected too!! only $212 even tho my wife paid like $900 in taxes on her benefits. its such BS honestly

Has either of you tried calling the IRS? I need to do this for something else but I keep getting the "we're experiencing high call volumes" message and then they hang up 😩

I actually went through this last month. The refund calculation is SUPER confusing because they don't just give you back the taxes on the unemployment. They completely recalculate your entire return with the new income amount. So if you had any credits or deductions that were income-based, those all change too. My refund was different than expected because I qualified for additional child tax credit after the recalculation.

Tax professional here. The unemployment tax exclusion for 2024 only applies to the first $10,200 of unemployment benefits per person, not the entire amount. So if your husband received $24,000 in benefits, only $10,200 of that would be excluded from taxation. And the refund isn't the full amount of tax paid on that $10,200 - it's the tax you paid based on your marginal tax rate. If you were in the 12% tax bracket, that would be about $1,224 maximum (12% of $10,200). There are several other factors that could reduce this amount: 1. Recalculation of tax credits based on your new AGI 2. Offsets for any outstanding federal or state debts 3. Adjustments to other deductions that are income-dependent If you believe there's still an error, you'll need to contact the IRS directly. Their dedicated line for these refunds is 800-829-1040.

THE IRS ALWAYS FINDS A WAY TO TAKE OUR MONEY!!! I went through exactlly the same thing and when I finally got through to a person they just gave me a bunch of technical tax jargon and basically told me to accept whatever they calculated. The system is designed to confuse us regular people so we give up. KEEP FIGHTING IT!!!

My sister is still waiting for hers completely! Anyone know how long these are supposed to take? She had unemployment back in January 2024.

I just want to add that if you end up needing to call the IRS, plan for it to take a LONG time. I had to call about my unemployment tax refund in March, and it took me 14 attempts over 3 days before I got through. When I finally did connect, I was on hold for 2 hours and 17 minutes (yes, I timed it). If you have trouble getting through using the normal method, Claimyr.com can help - they have a service that navigates the phone system and waits on hold for you until an agent is available. Then they call you to connect with the agent. Saved me so much frustration when I needed to call again in April about a different issue. Check out their demo: https://youtu.be/Rdqa1gKtxuE

did anyone get a letter from the IRS explaining there refund? we didnt get anything just money in our acct

I wanted to update everyone - I finally got through to the IRS today! The agent explained that our refund was smaller because we had claimed the earned income credit on our original return, and the unemployment exclusion changed our qualifying income for that credit. So it wasn't just a straight calculation of taxes paid on $10,200. She said if we still think there's an error, we need to file Form 843 (Claim for Refund) with an explanation and our calculations. So at least now I know the next step if we decide to pursue it further. Thanks to everyone for the advice!