USA Question on unemployment payments

[SluggerMike]

In 2020 my wife applied for unemployment benefits and was eventually approved for benefits. Due to delays within the State's unemployment department she did not receive her payment until early in 2021. I know that had we been able to file it in tax year 2020 we could have claimed a credit to avoid taxes on the first %10,000 of unemployment. Is there any way to claim this credit now? Can I go back and amend last years' return? (payment document is dated 2021) At this point I believe we just have to pay taxes on it, but maybe someone here can prove me wrong!
Thanks

 

[TaxDevil]

Unfortunately Congress dropped the ball on this one. The key is “unemployment compensation paid in 2020". So if for some reason that is NOT the taxpayer's fault the payment is received after 2020 you are just out of luck.

This is what happens when laws are written in haste without understanding the practical ramifications. A simple solution would have been changing the language to say UI payable for tax year 2020, regardless of when it is actually paid out.