Do tax refunds from self-employment affect my CalWORKs renewal? No 1099s filed

Tax refunds are NOT counted as income for CalWORKs! This is good news for you. The federal tax refund is specifically excluded as income and also as a resource for 12 months after you receive it. So you don't have to worry about it affecting your eligibility or grant amount. However, you DO need to report your self-employment income on your renewal forms (SAWS 2) and you should be reporting it on your SAR 7 too. Make sure you're keeping good records of what you earn each month from cleaning and babysitting since you don't have 1099s. The county might ask for proof of your earnings.

my cousin got a big tax refund last yr and didnt report it and then had her bennefits cut becuz they found out somehow. idk if its different for self employement tho

I'm in almost the same situation! Self-employed with house cleaning jobs and on CalWORKs. My worker told me that tax refunds don't count as income, BUT you should still document when you receive it in your monthly report just to be safe. The important thing is to be super detailed about your self-employment on your renewal forms. For self-employment they'll give you a form to list all your business expenses too, so you can deduct things like cleaning supplies, transportation to jobs, etc. Makes a big difference in how they calculate your income! Just make sure you've got receipts for everything.

you should absolutely tell them EVERYTHING. dont give them any reason to come after you for fraud. I didn't report a side job once becuz it was only 2 days work and got hit with an overpayment and had to pay back $650. they track EVERYTHING with EDD and taxes so theyll know when you file. better safe than sorry.

I went through this exact same situation last year. Technically, tax refunds ARE exempt from being counted as income for CalWORKs. But in my experience, it's better to report everything and let your eligibility worker determine what counts and what doesn't. Two big things to be careful about: 1. Make sure you're reporting your self-employment income consistently throughout the year. If you report very little income all year but then your tax return shows much more, that could trigger a fraud investigation. 2. Keep documentation of EVERYTHING. With self-employment and no 1099s, the burden of proof is really on you. Also, when's the last time you talked to your worker? I tried calling mine for weeks about a similar question and kept getting nowhere until I used this service called Claimyr (claimyr.com). They got me through to an actual person at my county office in like 25 minutes when I'd been trying for days on my own. They have a demo video at https://youtu.be/jzISHxCPLwE that shows how it works. Worth it to get a straight answer about this stuff.

The other thing to consider is that your tax refund will show up in your bank account as a big deposit. If you're getting CalWORKs, they CAN request your bank statements during renewal or during random income verifications. So if they see a big deposit and you haven't explained it's your tax refund, that could cause problems even though the money itself is exempt.

To summarize what everyone is saying (there's a bit of confusion in some responses): 1. Federal tax refunds are EXEMPT income for CalWORKs purposes and exempt as a resource for 12 months after receipt 2. You should still REPORT the refund when you receive it, but clearly mark it as "tax refund" so it's properly coded as exempt 3. Your main focus should be on accurately reporting your self-employment income throughout the year on your SAR 7 forms 4. For your renewal, you'll need to complete a self-employment form (CW 10) detailing your income and business expenses 5. Keep all receipts and documentation - with cash work and no 1099s, good record-keeping is crucial Hope this helps clarify things!

Just wanted to add one more thing that might be helpful - when you file your taxes, make sure you keep a copy of your tax return! Your CalWORKs worker might ask for it during your renewal to verify your self-employment income matches what you've been reporting all year. Also, since you mentioned you do cleaning and babysitting, you might want to look into whether any of your regular clients should be giving you 1099s. If you make $600+ from any single household in a year, they're supposed to issue one. Not saying you need to chase people down for them, but just something to be aware of for next tax season. The earned income tax credit you mentioned is awesome - that's money back in your pocket that doesn't count against your CalWORKs at all. You're doing everything right by staying on top of this stuff before your renewal!