Can I make money while on NYS Department of Labor unemployment benefits?
I've been collecting unemployment for about 6 weeks now and things are getting tight financially. My weekly benefit is only covering about half my normal expenses. I have an opportunity to do some freelance graphic design work that could bring in maybe $200-300 per week, but I'm scared it will mess up my unemployment claim. Does anyone know the rules about making money while on unemployment? I don't want to lose my benefits but I really need the extra income right now.
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Ravi Malhotra
Yes, you can work part-time while collecting unemployment in NY, but you need to report ALL earnings on your weekly claim. NYS Department of Labor has specific rules - you can earn up to 25% of your weekly benefit rate without any reduction. Anything above that gets deducted dollar for dollar from your benefit payment. So if your weekly benefit is $400, you can earn up to $100 without penalty.
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StarSurfer
•Thanks! My weekly benefit is $385 so I could earn about $96 without penalty? What happens if I earn more than that in a week?
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Ravi Malhotra
•If you earn more than the 25% threshold, they subtract the excess from your benefit. So if you earned $200 and your threshold is $96, they'd subtract $104 from your $385 benefit, leaving you with $281 that week.
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Freya Christensen
just be careful about reporting it correctly on your weekly certification, i made a mistake once and had to deal with an overpayment notice months later. not fun.
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StarSurfer
•What kind of mistake did you make? I want to make sure I don't mess this up.
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Omar Hassan
The key thing is you MUST report the gross earnings for the week you performed the work, not when you got paid. I learned this the hard way when I did some consulting work. Also, freelance work counts as self-employment, so make sure you're keeping good records for tax purposes.
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Chloe Robinson
ugh the NYS Department of Labor system is so confusing about this stuff!! i tried calling to ask about part time work rules and spent 2 hours on hold just to get disconnected. their website doesn't explain it clearly either
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Diego Chavez
•I had the same problem trying to reach someone at NYS Department of Labor about earnings questions. I ended up using this service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that actually got me through to a real person. They have a video demo at https://youtu.be/qyftW-mnTNI that shows how it works. Cost me way less stress than trying to call myself over and over.
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NeonNebula
I've been doing DoorDash while on unemployment and it's working out okay. Just make sure you report every penny you earn. The NYS Department of Labor will find out eventually if you don't, and then you'll owe back all the benefits plus penalties.
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Anastasia Kozlov
Wait I'm confused about something - if I work part time at a regular job vs doing freelance work, are the rules different? I thought there were different rules for W2 vs 1099 income?
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Ravi Malhotra
•The earning limits are the same regardless of whether it's W2 or 1099 income. What matters is the total gross amount you earned that week. The difference is mainly in how you'll pay taxes on it later.
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Elijah Brown
@StarSurfer - One thing to keep in mind with freelance graphic design work is that you'll also need to set aside money for taxes since you won't have taxes withheld like with a regular job. As a freelancer, you'll be responsible for self-employment tax (15.3%) plus regular income tax on whatever you earn. So if you're making $200-300/week, consider putting aside about 25-30% for taxes. This might affect how much extra income you actually net after reporting to NYS Department of Labor and paying taxes later.
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