Unemployment Refund Tracker

The Internal Revenue Service and the Department of Treasury started sending out unemployment refunds to taxpayers who didn’t claim their rightful unemployment compensation on their federal income tax returns. While you would need to amend your tax return under normal circumstances, the IRS introduced a law that would automatically make these happen. If you’re anticipating an unemployment tax refund, your best bet is to track the status of it and see when it would arrive in your bank account.

Check your unemployment refund status using the Where’s My Refund tool, like tracking your regular tax refund. The Internal Revenue Service doesn’t have a separate portal for checking the unemployment compensation tax refunds. Check your unemployment refund status by entering the following information to verify your identity.

• Social Security Number
• Refund Amount
• Filing Status

How do I determine the unemployment refund amount?

Because you didn’t know the exact refund amount you’re going to receive when the unemployment compensation is factored in your federal income tax return, you have to calculate it yourself. The easiest way to do this is by figuring out your taxable income by not adding the unemployment compensation exclusion you’re eligible for and then tax liability. Lastly, compare it with your total tax payments and see how much is your total tax refund. You can then subtract the initial refund you received and find the difference to come up with the unemployment refund. Although this might take some work, take a look at the original copy of your federal income tax return for guidance.

Although this takes some work, it may not be worth it as the majority of the payments have arrived. Give the process a couple of days and you’ll receive your tax refund direct deposited into your bank account you provided with the IRS. 

Unemployment compensation refund checks

The IRS hasn’t made an announcement on whether or not there will be checks. For the time being, it’s too early to say, as it only has been a day since the refunds were issued. As soon as the IRS makes a statement about checks, we’ll keep you updated. In the meantime, you can check the refund status online through the Where’s My Refund tool.

One side note to keep in mind is that the refunds are sent automatically to taxpayers that the IRS has their payment information. If you don’t have your bank account information with the IRS, you’ll get a refund check.