Will my 1099 side project affect my Florida DEO unemployment benefits?
I'm currently collecting unemployment in Florida and just finished a quick freelance project last week that paid me $475 on a 1099. I'm freaking out about reporting this on my weekly claim. Will DEO just cut off all my benefits completely? Or do they just reduce my weekly payment by what I earned? I really need the unemployment money to pay rent, but this project opportunity came up and I couldn't turn it down. Anyone dealt with this before? Will I get in trouble for working while on unemployment?
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Jacinda Yu
You're REQUIRED to report ALL income when you claim your weeks, including 1099 work. DEO doesn't automatically cut off all benefits just because you had some income. They use a formula: if you earn less than your weekly benefit amount, they just reduce your payment for that week. For example, if your weekly benefit is $275 and you earned $475, you wouldn't get benefits for THAT specific week, but your claim stays active for future weeks when you don't have income. Just be honest and report it - much better than them finding out later and charging you with fraud.
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Brian Downey
•Omg thank you!!! So even if I don't get anything for that one week, I can still claim future weeks? I was scared my whole claim would get terminated permanently!
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Landon Flounder
I had similar thing happen w/ a photography gig last month. Just report what u earned when u claim ur week - they subtract what u made from ur benefit amount. If u earn MORE than ur weekly benefit they don't pay u for that week but ur still eligible for other weeks.
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Callum Savage
•This isn't always true!! My brother-in-law did a one-time construction job and they flagged his entire account for fraud investigation and he didn't get paid for 2 MONTHS while they sorted it out!! The DEO system is totally broken. They treat everyone like criminals!!
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Ally Tailer
I've been dealing with FL unemployment for a while now and here's exactly how it works with 1099 income: Florida uses what's called the "partial benefits formula." They take your weekly benefit amount (WBA), add $58 (which is 8 hours at FL minimum wage), and that's how much you can earn before losing ALL benefits for that week. So if your WBA is $275, you can earn up to $333 and still get something. Above that, you get $0 for that week only. The important thing is to report GROSS earnings (before taxes) for the week you PERFORMED the work, not when you got paid. This is where people mess up a lot.
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Brian Downey
•Wait so I need to report it for the week I did the work, not when I actually got the payment? That's confusing because I did the project over several weeks but just got paid one lump sum at the end.
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Aliyah Debovski
When I had small catering gigs while on unemployment I just divided my payment by the number of hours and reported it for the weeks I actually worked. Never had a problem.
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Ally Tailer
•Yes, this is the correct approach for work spread across multiple weeks. Keep track of hours worked each week and allocate the payment proportionally when reporting.
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Miranda Singer
Has anyone else noticed that the CONNECT portal is super glitchy when reporting 1099 income? It keeps asking if you're "self-employed" when you report any amount. I'm not self-employed just because I did ONE project! Anyway, I've been stuck trying to reach a DEO agent for 3 weeks with no luck...
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Cass Green
•I had the same issue and wasted weeks trying to get through to DEO. I finally used a service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that got me connected to a DEO agent in about 45 minutes instead of calling for days. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/UzW_hbUy-ss?si=zORd51jeq1GX5Ldj. The agent told me that for one-time 1099 work, you should select "no" for self-employed and just report it as income. Saved me so much stress!
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Callum Savage
BE CAREFUL!!! My cousin didn't report his DoorDash earnings and now DEO wants him to payback $4,700 in benefits!!! They do cross-check with IRS so they WILL find out eventually if you don't report. Not worth the risk!!
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Landon Flounder
•ya this happened to my roomate 2, they sent him an overpayment notice + he had to pay everything back + fees
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Aliyah Debovski
When does everyone report their work search contacts? On the same day every week or do you wait until the last day?
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Jacinda Yu
•That's a different topic, but you need to report 5 work search contacts per week. I recommend entering them as you do them so you don't forget. But let's stay on topic with the original question about reporting 1099 income.
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Ally Tailer
One more thing to consider: if you think you might continue getting 1099 work, remember that unemployment benefits don't have taxes withheld unless you request it, but you'll owe self-employment taxes (15.3%) plus income tax on your 1099 earnings. Setting aside about 25-30% of your 1099 income for taxes is a good idea to avoid surprises at tax time.
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Brian Downey
•That's great advice - thank you! I hadn't even thought about the tax implications. This was probably a one-time thing, but I'll definitely put some aside for taxes just in case.
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