A goldmine hidden in plain sight:
The FFCRA Refundable Credit for self-employed individuals.
This credit, new for the 2020 tax season, and extended to 2021, allows a self employed taxpayer to claim sick and family leave payments from the federal government. For COVID-19 -related leave, a taxpayer is eligible to claim the credit.
This includes small business owners, and even self employed freelancers who receive a 1099 at the end of the year.
This is just like employers received for employees who had coronavirus. Form 7202 claims this credit.
It can be worth many thousands of dollars!
To be eligible for the maximum amounts, 10 days of personal sick leave are counted (or for caring for a spouse), and 50 days for caring for children who were home from school. Many, many people are eligible for the MAX!
Personal sick leave also includes days someone was unable to work due to local lockdowns.
Many, many accountants were unaware of this new credit when filing their clients' returns, and people missed out. However, returns can still be amended to claim this valuable credit.
For 2021, the eligibility dates are April 2021-September 2021, with the same amount of days available. Most people can't claim too much of it (most localities were more open by then, and less people sick), but you may qualify for some of it. Days missed from work due to getting the vaccine also count.
Important point to keep in mind is that documentation needs to be available, in case of an audit. For 2020 this shouldn't be too hard to get; historic lockdown data by locality is publicly available. For 2021 make sure you have medical records, or official lockdown data, if applicable.
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