EDD certification confusion with Instacart gig work - report as self-employment?

yea ur supposed to report all income even gig wrk when u certify. they ask if u worked or made money that week and u gotta say yes

I was in this EXACT situation last year!!! The EDD system is NOT designed for gig workers at all & it's super confusing. When you certify, you report Instacart as self-employment income. You have to report the income for the week you WORKED (not when you got paid). So add up all trips + tips for work completed during that certification week, even if some tips came later. KEEP DETAILED RECORDS of everything!!!

Hello! Former EDD employee here. When certifying with gig work like Instacart, you'll select "Yes" to the question about whether you worked, then indicate self-employment. You need to report gross earnings (before expenses) for the week you performed the work, not when you were paid. For certification purposes, a week runs Sunday through Saturday. For tips that come in later: report based on the best information you have at certification time. If significant tips arrive after you've already certified, you can contact EDD to adjust your previous certification. Keep detailed records of all earnings including screenshots from your Instacart app. Remember that you can still receive partial unemployment benefits if your weekly earnings are less than your weekly benefit amount.

You still need to meet the work search requirements separately from your Instacart activity. Doing gig work doesn't count as looking for work in EDD's eyes. You need to be actively seeking regular employment through job applications, interviews, networking, etc. Document all your job search activities carefully in case EDD requests this information later.

If I could add something important: when reporting Instacart income, you report the GROSS amount (before they take their cut) not what actually hits your bank account. This trips up a lot of people! Also, make sure you're tracking your mileage and expenses for tax purposes, but that's separate from what you report to EDD. I've found the easiest way to handle this is to create a simple spreadsheet where you record each day's work, earnings, tips, etc. Then at certification time, you just total up the days that fall within that certification period. Trying to reach EDD for clarification on this stuff is almost impossible though... took me weeks of calling.

If you're having trouble reaching EDD to fix your certifications or get questions answered, I'd recommend using Claimyr. It's a service that helps you get through to an EDD representative without the endless redial game. Saved me hours of frustration when I had a similar issue with my gig work reporting. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/JmuwXR7HA10?si=TSwYbu_GOwYzt9km and their website is claimyr.com. It was the only way I could actually get through to fix my certification mistake with DoorDash earnings.

I went through this exact headache with Uber Eats last year. You absolutely MUST report as self-employment. And here's the frustrating part - you have to report the full amount INCLUDING what Uber took as their cut. The EDD rep told me they consider you as earning the whole amount and then paying Uber for their "service fee" which is considered a business expense (that you can deduct on taxes but NOT from what you report to EDD). When I first started, I only reported what hit my bank account and ended up with an overpayment notice 8 months later! Had to repay nearly $3,200 because I was calculating wrong. Don't make my mistake!!

Another thing nobody told me - you have to certify EVERY TWO WEEKS even if you made too much from Instacart that week to get benefits! If you skip certifying because you had a good Instacart week, your claim can get messed up. They want continuous certification no matter what.

I do Instacart + UI and the way I handle it is I take screenshots of my earnings every Saturday night before the week closes in the app. That way I have exact record of what I earned that UI week. Tips that come in after I've certified? Honestly I just let those slide... EDD has no way of knowing when tips come in anyway and it's usually just a few bucks. Not worth the headache trying to go back and amend certifications for $5 here and there.

Thank you everyone for the advice! Just to make sure I've got this straight: 1. Report as self-employment each week I work 2. Report the GROSS amount (before Instacart's cut) 3. Report based on when I worked, not when paid 4. Keep certifying every two weeks even if I have high-earning weeks 5. Keep detailed records with screenshots 6. Continue looking for traditional employment to meet work search requirements I think I need to call EDD to correct my previous certifications since I've been reporting the net amount. Hopefully I can get through to someone!

Good plan! And yes, definitely try to get through to EDD as soon as possible to correct those previous certifications. The longer you wait, the more complicated it gets. When I had to make corrections to my self-employment reporting, I found it helpful to have all my earnings documentation already pulled up before calling in. The rep I spoke with appreciated that I was prepared with exact dates and amounts.