EDD asking for 1099 income when filing new claim after W-2 job ended - how to report?

yes u have to report ALL income even the 1099 stuff. they will cross-check with IRS anyways. When i filed last yr they wanted me to enter each 'job' seperately. put your W2 first then do another entry for the freelance/1099 work. for the dates just put Jan 1-Dec 31 for the whole year of 1099 work.

You absolutely need to report your 1099 income. Here's how to handle it properly: 1. First enter your W-2 job details with the correct start and end dates 2. For your 1099 income, add it as a separate employer - you can put "Self-employed" or your business name 3. When it asks for the dates, use the entire period you've been doing freelance work 4. For income reporting, take your total 1099 income for the year and divide by 12 to get a monthly average if the system requires monthly amounts 5. Make sure to indicate this is self-employment income when prompted This matters because EDD uses your highest-earning quarter to calculate your benefit amount, and all income sources count toward this calculation. Also, once you're collecting benefits, you'll need to report any freelance earnings during your bi-weekly certifications, which will reduce your weekly benefit amount accordingly.

To answer the question about whether 1099 income helps or hurts your claim: 1. During the *base period* calculation (the 12-18 months before you filed), ALL income including 1099 work can increase your weekly benefit amount - so it HELPS your claim amount 2. But once you're collecting benefits, any current 1099/freelance earnings must be reported during certification and will reduce your weekly payments - so ongoing freelance work while collecting REDUCES what you receive each week It's a bit confusing, but essentially: past 1099 work = good for your claim amount, current 1099 work = reduces your weekly payment

I just went through this EXACT same situation last month! The way I handled it was getting my last year's tax return (Schedule C) and dividing my total 1099 income by 4 to get quarterly amounts. That's what I put in the system when it asked. BUT - and this is important - I got stuck in pending for almost 3 weeks because they needed to verify my self-employment income. I couldn't get through to EDD no matter how many times I called - always got the "we're experiencing high call volume" message and then it hung up on me. I finally used Claimyr (claimyr.com) to get through to an EDD rep after wasting days trying on my own. They have this system that connects you with EDD when a line opens up. There's a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/JmuwXR7HA10?si=TSwYbu_GOwYzt9km The EDD rep told me they needed my Schedule C from my tax return to verify my 1099 income. Once I uploaded that in the portal, my claim was approved within 2 days.

The 1099 income question is SOOOO annoying!!!! I went through this last yr and EDD messed up my claim 3 TIMES!!!! First they didn't count my 1099 income at all, then they counted it wrong, then they said I didn't provide proof when I DID!!! The whole system is broken and they have NO IDEA how to handle ppl who aren't just simple W-2 employees. I spent TWO MONTHS fighting with them to fix it. Good luck!!

Yeah I finally got it fixed but only after talking to 4 different reps who all told me different things! MAKE SURE you keep copies of EVERYTHING you send them. I take screenshots of every page I submit now bc they "lost" my docs twice. And write down the names of anyone you talk to!!

To give you a more complete answer about your 1099 income reporting: 1. You should report the total income from each quarter of your base period (this is typically the first 4 of the last 5 completed calendar quarters before you file) 2. You can determine quarterly amounts by: - Using your bookkeeping records if you track income by date received - Looking at bank statements to see when payments were deposited - If you truly have no way to break it down, divide your annual amount by 4 (but be prepared to explain this if questioned) 3. Documentation you should have ready: - Previous year's tax return with Schedule C and 1099 forms - Any bookkeeping records showing income by quarter - Bank statements showing deposits from clients 4. For ongoing freelance work while on unemployment: - Report gross earnings in the week you performed the work (not when paid) - Keep detailed records of hours worked and amounts earned each day - Understand that earnings over $25 reduce your weekly benefit amount This mixed income situation often triggers a phone interview with EDD to verify everything, so having your documentation organized in advance will help tremendously.

Thank you all for the helpful advice! I'm going to dig up my tax returns and try to figure out the quarterly breakdown as best I can. It sounds like I should expect some delays and possibly a phone interview about the mixed income. I'll make sure to keep detailed records of everything I submit. Fingers crossed this all goes smoothly!

wait i'm confused about something... if you're still doing 1099 work now, doesn't that mean you're not actually unemployed?? my friend got denied because they said he was still "self employed" even tho he lost his main job

Just to add another perspective - I had a similar situation with mixed W-2 and 1099 income when I filed last year. One thing that really helped me was creating a simple spreadsheet before starting the application with: - Quarter 1: Total 1099 income Jan-Mar - Quarter 2: Total 1099 income Apr-Jun - Quarter 3: Total 1099 income Jul-Sep - Quarter 4: Total 1099 income Oct-Dec I used my bank deposit records to figure this out since I didn't track it quarterly during the year. The EDD system lets you go back and edit entries if you make mistakes, so don't stress too much about getting it perfect the first time. Also, pro tip: when they ask for "employer name" for your 1099 work, you can put your own name or "Self-Employed - [type of work]" like "Self-Employed - Graphic Design". This makes it clear it's freelance work vs a traditional employer. The whole process took about 6 weeks for me from application to first payment, but that included the phone interview to verify my mixed income sources. Having all my docs ready made that call go pretty smoothly.

One thing I haven't seen mentioned yet - if you're still actively doing freelance work while collecting UI benefits, make sure you understand the earnings threshold. In California, you can earn up to 25% of your weekly benefit amount without any reduction. Anything above that reduces your benefits dollar-for-dollar. So if your weekly benefit is $400, you can earn up to $100 in freelance income that week without losing any UI money. Earn $150 that week? Your UI payment gets reduced to $350. This is why it's super important to track your freelance hours and earnings by the week, not just report lump sums when clients pay you. Also, report earnings in the week you did the work, not when you got paid. So if you worked on a design project Monday-Wednesday but won't get paid until next month, you still report those earnings for the week you actually did the work. The EDD certification questions can be confusing about this, but being accurate from the start will save you headaches later if they audit your claim.

I'm in a similar situation right now - just lost my main W-2 job but have some sporadic 1099 income from tutoring. Reading through all these responses has been super helpful, especially about the quarterly breakdown approach. One question I haven't seen addressed though - what happens if your 1099 income was really irregular? Like some quarters I made $2000, other quarters maybe $200 or even $0. Do I just report the actual amounts for each quarter even if they're wildly different? I'm worried EDD might think I'm making up numbers if one quarter is way higher than the others. Also, for anyone who's been through this process - how long did it typically take from submitting your application to getting your first payment? I know everyone's situation is different but trying to get a realistic expectation of the timeline while I'm job hunting. Thanks to everyone sharing their experiences, this thread is way more helpful than anything I could find on the actual EDD website!

I'm dealing with this exact situation right now too! Just wanted to add something I learned from my tax preparer that might help - if you use accounting software like QuickBooks Self-Employed or even just a basic spreadsheet to track your 1099 income going forward, it makes the quarterly breakdown SO much easier for future claims. I wish I had started doing this earlier because trying to reconstruct quarterly earnings from bank statements and random invoices was a nightmare. For this current claim, I ended up calling my biggest 1099 clients to ask when they paid me last year since some of my records were incomplete. Also, heads up that if you have multiple 1099 clients, you might need to enter each one separately in the EDD system depending on how it prompts you. I had three different clients and the system treated each as a separate "employer" which was confusing but ultimately worked out fine. One more thing - make sure to save a PDF copy of your completed application before submitting it. The EDD system timed out on me twice while I was entering all the 1099 details and I had to start over. Super frustrating when you're trying to get all those quarterly amounts entered correctly! Hope this helps and good luck to everyone navigating this process. The mixed income thing definitely makes it more complicated but it's totally doable with the right preparation.

This is such a timely thread for me! I'm in the exact same boat - lost my main W-2 job two weeks ago but have been doing some freelance writing on the side for about a year. Reading through everyone's experiences has been incredibly helpful, especially about the quarterly breakdown approach. I wanted to add one thing I discovered while preparing my application - if you use payment platforms like PayPal, Venmo for Business, or Stripe for your freelance work, they usually have built-in reporting features that can show you earnings by date range. I was able to pull quarterly reports directly from PayPal which saved me hours of digging through bank statements. Just go to the "Reports" section and you can filter by custom date ranges for each quarter. Also, for anyone worried about the phone interview process - I actually just had mine yesterday and it was way less intimidating than I expected. The rep was really understanding about mixed income situations and mainly just wanted to verify that I had legitimate 1099 work and that my W-2 job loss was involuntary. The whole call took maybe 15 minutes and she approved my claim on the spot. One tip: have your actual 1099 forms handy during the call, not just your tax return. She asked me to read off the specific amounts from two of my 1099s to cross-reference with what I had entered in the system. Thanks to everyone for sharing your experiences - this community knowledge is so much more practical than trying to navigate EDD's confusing website alone!