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.

One more thing that might help - I found it useful to set up a simple system where I export my Instacart earnings summary at the end of each week (they have this feature in the app under "Earnings"). This gives you a clean breakdown of batch payments, tips, and total gross earnings for that specific week. Way easier than trying to add up individual orders, and it matches exactly what you need to report to EDD. Also, if you do have to call EDD to make corrections, having these official summaries from Instacart makes the conversation go much smoother since they can see you're using the platform's own data.

Just want to add one more resource that might help - the EDD website has a specific guide for reporting self-employment income while on UI benefits. It's buried pretty deep in their site, but if you search for "DE 4581" (that's their self-employment reporting form), it explains exactly how to calculate and report gig work earnings. The form itself isn't required for regular certification, but the instructions are super helpful for understanding what counts as reportable income. Also explains the difference between gross vs net earnings which seems to be confusing a lot of people here. Worth reading through before you call to make corrections!

Pro tip from someone who's been doing this for over a year - create a simple Google Sheet or Excel file to track everything weekly. I have columns for: Date, Batch Earnings, Tips, Total Gross, and Notes. Every Sunday night I pull my Instacart weekly summary and log it. Takes 5 minutes but saves hours of headache during certification. Also, screenshot your weekly summary from the app as backup - I learned this the hard way when I needed to prove my earnings to EDD and some of my older data wasn't showing in the app anymore. The key is consistency - same day every week, same process. Makes certification almost automatic once you get in the routine.

Just wanted to chime in as someone who made ALL the mistakes you're trying to avoid! I did Uber Eats while on UI and initially reported everything wrong - net instead of gross, wrong weeks, skipped certifications when I had good earning weeks. Ended up with a $2,800 overpayment that I'm still paying back in installments. The advice everyone's given you is spot on, but I'll add this: when you call EDD to fix your previous certifications, be prepared to wait on hold for HOURS. I'd recommend calling right when they open at 8am and having everything ready - your claim number, exact dates you need to correct, and the corrected amounts. Write it all down beforehand so you don't fumble when you finally get someone on the line. Also, don't panic about the corrections - EDD deals with gig work reporting mistakes constantly now. As long as you're proactive about fixing it (like you're doing), they're usually pretty reasonable. The penalties are mainly for people who try to hide income, not honest mistakes.

One thing that really helped me when I was in your situation was keeping a dedicated notebook just for UI/gig work tracking. I know everyone's suggesting spreadsheets and apps, but sometimes old school pen and paper is more reliable when you're stressed and trying to certify quickly. I'd write down each day: date, hours worked, total earnings (gross), any tips that came in late, and certification week dates. Having it all in one physical place meant I never had to worry about phone battery dying or apps crashing when I needed the info. Plus, if EDD ever audits you, handwritten records with dates show you were making a genuine effort to be accurate. Just another option if digital tracking feels overwhelming!

I've been doing DoorDash while on unemployment for about 6 months now and went through all the same confusion you're experiencing! Here's what I wish someone had told me from day one: The most important thing is to understand EDD's definition of a "week" - it's Sunday through Saturday, not Monday through Friday like a regular job. So when you're calculating your weekly earnings, make sure you're using the right dates. For late tips, I've found the best approach is to estimate based on your typical tip rate when you certify, then keep a running note of any significant differences. If a week's worth of late tips adds up to more than $25-30, I'll contact EDD to adjust that certification. For smaller amounts, it's usually not worth the hassle. Also, since you mentioned looking for permanent work - make sure you're documenting your job search activities separately from your Instacart work. Keep a log of applications, interviews, networking events, etc. EDD can request this information randomly, and you don't want to be scrambling to recreate months of job search history. One last tip: consider setting aside about 25-30% of your Instacart earnings for taxes since they don't withhold anything. It's not related to UI reporting, but it'll save you a nasty surprise next tax season!

I've been dealing with this exact same situation for the past few months doing Grubhub while on UI. One thing that really helped me was setting up automatic weekly reminders on my phone to pull all my earnings data every Saturday night before the certification period closes. The biggest game-changer for me was realizing that Grubhub (and I think Instacart too) actually shows you a "week view" in their earnings section that aligns with EDD's Sunday-Saturday schedule. Look for it in your earnings history - it'll save you from having to manually add up individual deliveries. Also, I learned this the hard way: when you report self-employment income during certification, EDD will ask for the exact dollar amount. Don't round up or down, even by a few cents. I got flagged for a review because my reported amounts didn't match their records exactly (they somehow had access to more detailed data than I expected). One more thing - if you're planning to do Instacart long-term while job searching, consider getting a mileage tracking app like MileIQ or Stride. You'll need those records for taxes, and it shows EDD you're treating this as legitimate self-employment rather than just casual work. Good luck with getting through to EDD to fix those previous certifications! The wait times are brutal but it's definitely worth correcting now rather than dealing with overpayment issues later.

I just wanted to add something that helped me a lot when I was in your exact situation with Shipt deliveries - create a simple "cheat sheet" for yourself that you can reference quickly during certification. I made a one-page document with the key points: report as self-employment, use gross amounts (before platform fees), report for the week worked (Sunday-Saturday), and always certify even if you earned too much that week. I kept this taped to my computer so when I was rushing through certification I wouldn't second-guess myself or accidentally go back to reporting the net amounts. It sounds silly but when you're stressed and trying to certify quickly, having those reminders right there really helps avoid mistakes. Also, one thing I noticed that others haven't mentioned - when you do get through to EDD to fix your previous certifications, ask them to put a note on your account about the correction. That way if any issues come up later, there's a record that you proactively reached out to fix the reporting error. Saved me from a lot of headaches when they did a random review of my claim months later.

I'm new to this situation too and this thread has been incredibly helpful! I just started doing Uber Eats after losing my retail job and was completely lost on how to handle the unemployment certification. Reading through everyone's experiences and advice has given me a much clearer picture of what I need to do. I'm definitely going to set up that spreadsheet system and tracking routine that several people mentioned. Quick question though - for those of you who've been doing this for a while, about how long does it typically take to get through to EDD when you need to speak to someone? I want to set realistic expectations for when I try to call them. Thanks everyone for sharing your knowledge - this community is amazing!