Do you have to pay taxes on pandemic unemployment benefits from NYS Department of Labor?
I got unemployment benefits during 2021-2022 and I'm still confused about the tax situation. I received around $18,000 total from NYS Department of Labor over those months when everything was shut down. My accountant is asking for my 1099-G but I can't find it anywhere on my.ny.gov portal. Did anyone else have trouble finding their tax documents? Also, I heard there was some kind of tax forgiveness for the first $10,200 but I'm not sure if that applies to regular state benefits or just the federal stuff. Really don't want to mess this up with the IRS.
8 comments
Join the conversation
Tami Morgan
Yes, unemployment benefits are taxable income at both federal and state levels. NYS Department of Labor should have issued you a 1099-G for each year you received benefits. You can usually download it from your my.ny.gov account under the 'Tax Information' section. The $10,200 exclusion you mentioned was only for federal taxes and only applied to 2020 unemployment benefits, not 2021-2022.
0 coins
Maya Diaz
•Thanks! I found the 1099-G under a different menu than I was looking. So I do owe state taxes on the full amount for NY then?
0 coins
Rami Samuels
same boat here, got benefits in 2021 and was shocked when I had to pay taxes on it all. nobody told me to set aside money for taxes when i was getting the payments
0 coins
Haley Bennett
•You can actually have taxes withheld from your weekly unemployment payments if you request it when filing your weekly claims. It's usually 10% for federal. Might be worth knowing for the future.
0 coins
Douglas Foster
I had a nightmare trying to get my 1099-G from NYS Department of Labor last year. The website kept crashing and when I called they said I had to wait for it to be mailed. If you still can't find yours online, you might need to call them directly. I used a service called claimyr.com that helped me get through to an actual agent - they have a video demo at https://youtu.be/qyftW-mnTNI showing how it works. Saved me hours of busy signals.
0 coins
Nina Chan
•How much did that cost? I've been trying to reach NYS Department of Labor for weeks about my tax documents.
0 coins
Douglas Foster
•It was worth it for me since I needed to resolve the issue quickly for my tax filing deadline. Much easier than the endless phone tree.
0 coins
Ruby Knight
Just a heads up - if you received any of the enhanced federal benefits during the pandemic (like the extra $600 or $300 weekly), those are also taxable. Make sure your 1099-G includes everything you received, not just the regular state unemployment amount.
0 coins