Staying home for months on end has taken a toll on everyone, but it can also take a toll on your tax return. Here are five unexpected ways the pandemic could affect your taxes.

Home office headaches. Working remotely doesn't mean you automatically get to write off your home office. The home-office deduction is typically only for self-employed people. That means if you are someone's employee, this tax break is likely a no-go — even if your company sent everyone home because of COVID-19, and even if your company didn't reimburse you for that office chair, printer or paper you bought, said Dina Pyron, the Global TaxChat Leader at Ernst & Young LLP.

Unemployment upheaval. Stimulus checks aren't taxable, but unemployment income is. In addition to the IRS, your state may or may not also tax unemployment. Also, the benefit could affect the size of the premium tax credit you may qualify for when you purchase certain types of health insurance. "All of a sudden, now they have more household income; they qualify for less advance credit," said Ryan Losi, a certified public accountant in Glen Allen, Va.

Another potential shocker: Criminals using stolen identities file for unemployment but have the state send records of the payments (Form 1099-G) to the mailbox of the real taxpayers, who are left with the headache of convincing the IRS the income wasn't real. That means providing the IRS with documentation, Pyron notes.

Dependent difficulties. Some single parents may lose their Child Tax Credit of up to $2,000 if their children stayed somewhere else. Unless both parents sign and file IRS Form 8332 showing they have agreed on which parent gets the tax credit, then generally the parent who had the child for more than 182 days (six months) during the tax year is typically the one who qualifies for the tax credit, Losi notes.

529 fallout. If you paid college tuition bills from a 529 plan and then the college refunded some of that money, perhaps because of a move to remote instruction, that is taxable if not returned to the 529 account, according to Losi.

Flaky 401(k)s. The pandemic prompted many people to stop contributing to 401(k) plans to preserve cash. But because of retirement plan regulations, a drop in companywide participation could retroactively reduce what highly compensated employees are allowed to contribute to their own 401(k) accounts. That means some people may soon receive refunds of some of their 401(k) contributions, and that returned money may be taxable.

E-mail: torem@nerdwallet.com.