Tax refunds of unemployment benefits will start in May

The U.S. citizens received lots of stimulus checks during the pandemic. The government continues aiding the people to weather the coronavirus crisis. The officials announced recently that tax refunds on 2020 unemployment benefits would start in May. However, single filers will get the money sooner than other taxpayers.

According to the IRS, other groups, including married couples and people with complex tax returns, may not get their refunds until summer.

The government usually treats jobless benefits as taxable income. However, the U.S. Rescue Plan has forgone federal tax up to $10,200 of unemployment benefits, per person, collected in 2020.

According to The Century Foundation, approximately 40 million Americans received unemployment benefits last year as the coronavirus pandemic created the worst unemployment crisis in the country since the Great Depression. The average person got $14,000 stimulus aid.

Still, many workers eligible for the tax break had filed their tax returns by the time U.S. President Joe Biden signed the new covid-19 relief bill of $1.9 trillion in mid-March. As a result, they may have overpaid their taxes.

The employment rate may increase significantly in summer, though. So, the IRS is already recalculating tax liabilities for such workers, expecting to start paying refunds in May.

An agency announced that they would either refund any resulting overpayment of tax or apply to other outstanding taxes owed.

When did the IRS schedule Tax Day? 

Mark Steber, the chief tax information officer for the tax-preparation company Jackson Hewitt, stated that there were three giant tax bills passed last year and this year that impacted all taxpayers.

However, Tax Day is later than usual this year as the IRS extended filing and payment deadlines from April 15 to May 17 as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Besides, people in Louisiana, Texas, and Oklahoma have a deadline of June 15 due to winter storms.

Meanwhile, stimulus and aid legislation enacted in 2020 by former President Trump and in 2021 by President Biden included provisions that provide tax relief for 2020 in areas including unemployment benefits, stimulus payments, and charitable contributions.

• Check out FinanceBrokerage’s comprehensive review on SwissMarketFX