Independent Contractor Unemployment Insurance - Federal CARES Act

I had hoped that one outcome from this covid crisis would be the elimination of "patchwork" aspects of unemployment programs like this.
I had hoped for their replacement with rational systems that also don't include outright punishment for being jobless.

This $100 rule suggests I might have to wait a bit longer.

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Nothing in either linked article makes a distinction between regular UI and pandemic UI for self employed. Yes, it is true that in many if not most states, self employed tend to get less in state benefits, more frequently falling under the $100 threshold. But many self employed will still qualify, and many regular UI recipients will not. A lot depends on the state (and most states haven't even applied for the extra money anyways.)

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/20/2020 08:52PM by mystery2me.
Yeah, this was my understanding of it as well.

@mystery2me wrote:

Nothing in either linked article makes a distinction between regular UI and pandemic UI for self employed. Yes, it is true that in many if not most states, self employed tend to get less in state benefits, more frequently falling under the $100 threshold. But many self employed will still qualify, and many regular UI recipients will not. A lot depends on the state (and most states haven't even applied for the extra money anyways.)
Check the FEMA site. They have all the details and a list of the states that have signed up. And yes, ICs collecting PUA are eligible, provided that their states sign up.
How did you ever get through to TWC, I have been trying for months. I did not see where you didn't have to send it in and am still waiting to get approved. I was told I had to send in my Schedule C because I had previously been employed part time and had to file on that employer first and then do the DUA. Everything contradicts itself, turn in income when you do the work on one part of the form for your weekly claim, but then down in another paragraph, do not report earnings until you are paid if you are self employed!!!!!!!sad smiley Do you have a number that's not on the website? I don't know when to report my self employment if I do a shop

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/21/2020 12:11AM by laspgh.
New York State dept of labor just sent an email saying they had applied through FEMA. They said to keep certifying weekly so when their application is accepted they could make back-payments.
I think it differs from state to state. In NY, minimum is $184 per week for everyone (including PUA receivers). I don't know if this means I qualify now or not. It seems that way but is this paid by the state or come from federal under pua/peua? If it's not paid by the state of NY, then I might not get it. That is my understanding now. I read some states have said people receiving less than $100 UI won't be getting $300 extra payout even if they got $600 payout before.
I just received my 3 weeks of $300 in TN (minus taxes). It is essentially a one time payment since there are only enough funds for 3 weeks.
California has finally said they will be paying the $300 weekly going back to August 1 or so but only as long s the funds last. As I recall when our Pres spoke of it a few months ago he said it was for those who get at least $100 a week (from either program UI or PUA), I have not heard that Calif is planning to kick in the additional $100 per week.
But something I have not done as a PUA recipient when reporting money earned from mystery shopping is to take expenses off from the fees I earn. I had heard that in Calif you can only earn $25 per week before they start to ding your PUA check. I plan to start deducting the mileage allotment for whatever jobs I got paid above my reimbursements for in future when reporting my income. Has anyone been doing that and know if that is okay?
No, I have not done that. I think what you are describing is a tax issue, not a pay/fee issue. Someone at EDD might take "issue" with you deducting mileage expenses from actual wages received.

I am disappointed. I thought the $300 bonus would be included in the benefit this week. Nope. Maybe next time. However, I have started mystery shopping again, and intend to indicate that I no longer need the benefit when it's time to certify again. I wonder if I would still get the bonus after I remove myself from the claiming benefits.
Sandyf, I am not a tax expert but would not do that. Expenses are claimed when you file your annual return. What if you were earning W2 wages? Would you report you net income and qualified expenses and not simply your gross earnings? Good luck.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/07/2020 08:30PM by Madetoshop.
If this was a regular W2 job I would be reporting my gross pay as shown on each pay period. That amt would have had any reimbursable expenses taken out such as mileage.Rarely would there be a separate mileage payment on a W2 job. As this is also a reimbursable expense,reimbursed using the schedule C it seems only fair to me to back it out the way my mileage would be compensated as a reimbursement and not as pay on a W2 job.
Next time I fill out the form I will see how they phrase the question. If they say report the "pay" you received I would consider that a different figure than if they say report your "earnings" for the week. My earnings to me are what I end up with. I will look into it for clarification. If I was a carpenter and billed $1,000 for a job I did but I purchased $500 worth of wood that week for the job plus other expenses I would not consider $1,000 to be my earnings for the week even tho my customer handed me a check for $1,000..
Hi Sandyf. My W-2 wages do not reflect unreimbursed or reimbursed expenses depending on what you may describe them as. My company will pay for certain expenses where one does not have to worry about out of pocket i.e. an expense account that is paid for and accounted for by the company. There are those instances where expenses such as travel, hotels, meals, periodicals, tolls, mileage, etc are incurred by the employee by making their own reservations/laying out money while on company business. Employees will submit receipts and paper work for reimbursement and of course they are not deductable during tax time by the employee. This in my experience has always been a separate check/direct deposit. I have never received a W-2 where expenses were deducted as part of my paycheck. IMO, how much did you make? $1000 regardless of what my expenses were. Your expenses are claimed at tax time. Good luck to you.
I'm not in California, but it took me 2 minutes to find the answer on the EDD site.

Here is the video link:
[www.youtube.com]

Which was found on this page:
[edd.ca.gov]

Short answer, yes of course you deduct expenses to determine your business/self-employment income.
Hello Madetoshop, what you describe below is my experience as well. As a W2 employee these types of expenses I laid out and got reimbursed for were never on my paystub or my end of the year w2, which is why I do not think they should be part of my earnings in the case of a gig job. But I see there is an answer for me in the next post.

@Madetoshop wrote:

Hi Sandyf. My W-2 wages do not reflect unreimbursed or reimbursed expenses depending on what you may describe them as. My company will pay for certain expenses where one does not have to worry about out of pocket i.e. an expense account that is paid for and accounted for by the company. There are those instances where expenses such as travel, hotels, meals, periodicals, tolls, mileage, etc are incurred by the employee by making their own reservations/laying out money while on company business. Employees will submit receipts and paper work for reimbursement and of course they are not deductable during tax time by the employee. This in my experience has always been a separate check/direct deposit. I have never received a W-2 where expenses were deducted as part of my paycheck. IMO, how much did you make? $1000 regardless of what my expenses were. Your expenses are claimed at tax time. Good luck to you.
Thank you for this video. Aside from the fact that my certification forms clearly tell me to report my self employment earnings on the week that I receive them and not on the week that I worked, this is very interesting. I do agree with the part about how to determine "pay". However, since the instructions on when to report earnings are the opposite of what my instructions say, i wonder how much of the rest is correct.
It would have been great had the UI people provided a similar video to explain each question. I do not answer all
the questions the way the video instructs. I have in the past tried different ways of answering some of the questions but have always run into a follow up question that made no sense for my situation. When that happens I go back and change my answer to the tried and true one that seems to work. I think that there are very few people actually filling these forms out correctly.

/tquote=mystery2me]
I'm not in California, but it took me 2 minutes to find the answer on the EDD site.

Here is the video link:
[www.youtube.com]

Which was found on this page:
[edd.ca.gov]

Short answer, yes of course you deduct expenses to determine your business/self-employment income.[/quote]
The companies i work for lump reimbursements and earnings together on my 1099, which they are not supposed to do. I end up subtracting that when i do my taxes before calculating expenses such as mileage. My understanding (and i believe this was reported by one of the CPAs I follow on youtube) is that I report my earnings minus expenses.
In my state the system was set up for regular UI, so the forms have instructions that are contradictory to other instructions for self-emploment work. The forms specifically state to claim money when received, to not deduct expenses. etc. I go with the self-employment instructions and ignore the form instructions.
New York State sent an announcement yesterday saying they had been approved for the $300 weekly payments. They will only pay for 3 weeks in August, to be paid next week.
Apparently there was a 2nd round of payments. They will pay three back weeks thru early September, this week. Apparently there was a glitch in their bank's (Key Bank) system last time and to keep that from screwing up this week they will release each back week's payment on different days this week.
Wow ! MD extended @021) 11 weeks of UI benefits began transferring to individual qualifying residents today ! So, that would be the state amount plus the $300 have both started.

Based in MD, near DC
Shopping from the Carolinas to New York
Have video cam; will travel

Poor customer service? Don't get mad; get video.
Walesmaven, were you able to navigate the new reopening your claim questionnaire and recertification successfully? I was not able to get past one of the screens about my "past employer". I'll go back and look at it again later, but was just curious if you made it through...

"We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl -- year after year..."
However, starting 1/31 there will be extra verification and documents for some PUA recipients. They didn't say what they may entail yet but supposedly it's to curtail rampant PUA fraud.
msimon,
I never got to a question about former employer this time. That happened way back at the beginning, lst spring and took a while to get sorted out.

Based in MD, near DC
Shopping from the Carolinas to New York
Have video cam; will travel

Poor customer service? Don't get mad; get video.
Do you happen to recall how you got the phantom previous employer sorted out? I cannot get past this loop in their system.

"We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl -- year after year..."
Never mind, I figured it out.

"We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl -- year after year..."
Still waiting for PA to begin the extension for PUA recipients. Do you know if you have to receive some money from the state weekly in order to qualify for the federal money? I think I remember in the spring something about needing to receive even just a $1 from the state in order to qualify for the federal enhancement. But now 9 months later my state benefits are exhausted so I'm wondering how it's handled this time.
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