If you were on unemployment at all last year, you probably have a vivid remembrance of receiving an additional $600 per week in additional payments from the federal government. 

The payments began at the end of March and lasted through July. Several people totaled just over $10,000 in FPUC payments with little option to opt-out.

At that point, it seemed as if the payments would be fully beneficial, with no drawbacks. 

"Keep in mind, this was March 17th that all of this started", said Rep. Pat Harkins, (D) District 1. "We were all putting press releases out saying that we were going to help everybody. The federal people were saying how great they were and that they were going to come to everybody's aid."

Right about now, however, people are starting to see one major pitfall of these $600 payments. 

They're all taxable. 

"When this originally came out in March, they talked about that the extra $600 wouldn't be taxable", said Jason Williams, a tax manager at Liberty Tax. "Unfortunately now, they're actually including that into the unemployment that people received, and it is being put on their taxes as taxable income."

Several people on benefits in our area have already been taken by surprise at the reality that taxable unemployment benefits this year include money sent by the state and money from the federal government.

Ruth Sprague is one of those people. She received her unemployment taxable income form just a few days ago. She expected to see just over $1,000 in taxable income. 

What she actually saw was over 10 times that amount. 

"The $600 payments were lumped in there", Sprague said. "It wasn't broken out separately. And everything was taxable. It was one lump sum and everything was taxable. I almost passed out. I thought there was a mistake. I thought it was supposed to be broken out."

Normally, Sprague says she would receive a tax refund. This year, however, she's worried she'll have to pay. 

And that isn't news she can absorb.

"I slashed my cell phone bill. I've got a local antenna and internet connection. That's it", said Sprague. "Every place that I could cut back, I've cut back. I can't cut any deeper on this."

Williams, who says he's already received a few phone calls regarding taxable income, knows that Sprague won't be the only one in this predicament. 

In fact, he worries it could come as a nasty surprise when people go to file taxes.

"I believe some people figured that they were getting the money and wouldn't have the tax taken out", Williams said. "When they come into file, they very well possibly could owe."

Is there time for the federal government to act? Harkins doesn't feel that a change in the nature of the tax could happen before the deadline to file taxes, if a change is in the cards at all. He is, however, hopeful the government will do something to upend the financial burden people are facing.

"These people are going through hell still", said Harkins. "Many of them don't know what's going to come for them after March of this year. And we see at the federal level, there's not much continuity on anything. I would hope under the Biden administration, they could work something out with this."

Regardless, Sprague and others could now be faced with another payment they can't afford to make. And it could leave many with a difficult choice: food or shelter.

"This might be the first month where I'm either going to be late on my rent, or I'm going to let them take it out and pay my rent, but then figure out how to eat next month", Sprague said. "I don't know what else to do."

This story was supported by the Economic Hardship Reporting Project.