For many this tax season, the unemployment benefits seemed to challenge taxes and income brackets for many Americans.

Policymakers have allowed filers to use 2019 EIC (earned income credit) since 2020 provided fewer opportunities for many; however, the American Rescue Plan President Biden signed is also allowing an unemployment tax break. 

$10,200 of unemployment benefits are now exempt and benefits after that amount are taxable. For anyone who hasn’t filed their returns, they might need to wait a bit longer, to make sure they have the correct information and forms. Luckily, the new tax deadline is May 17th for individual filers and businesses, but this new deadline is not for corporations. For corporations, the April 15th deadline is still correct. For many Americans who have already filed, this has caused a delay in receiving their funds. 

The IRS is taking on this burden as they believe they can take care of the changes, even after all those that filed already. The IRS claims they received more than 66 million tax returns shortly after the new unemployment tax break, which is about a 13% decline compared to last year. As far as returns already issued, the IRS says there’s about a 28% decline compared to last year. As for the new tax break, the IRS claims you won’t need to file an amendment as the IRS can reconfigure the taxes with the excluded unemployment amount, adjusting the payment accordingly.