# Q about the new unemployment tax break

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-the-new-unemployment-tax-break/937903>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [March 15, 2021, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-the-new-unemployment-tax-break/937903 "2021-03-15T00:44:02Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Carlarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b5e925/32.png) [@Carlarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carlarm)\
**Post date:** [March 15, 2021, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-the-new-unemployment-tax-break/937903/1 "2021-03-15T00:44:02Z")

</div>

My daughter lost her job in 2020 as a result of the pandemic and filed for unemployment benefits in California. However, due to the huge backup, she didn’t receive any benefit check until February of 2021. Does that mean she can’t use the $10,200 Federal tax exclusion (in the latest COVID relief bill) because the unemployment money was not received in 2020? Is she just SOL?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![GnuMe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f17d59/32.png) [@GnuMe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GnuMe)\
**Post date:** [March 17, 2021, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-the-new-unemployment-tax-break/937903/2 "2021-03-17T15:36:41Z")

</div>

She will be able to use it in 2021… unless they change the rules again.