Does being on unemployment affect your tax return - NYS Department of Labor benefits
I've been collecting unemployment benefits from NYS Department of Labor since last summer and now I'm worried about how this will impact my taxes. I got my 1099-G form but I'm confused about whether I need to pay taxes on all the benefits I received. I had taxes withheld from some payments but not others because I kept changing my mind about it. Will this mess up my refund? Has anyone dealt with unemployment benefits on their tax return before?
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Mason Stone
Yes, unemployment benefits from NYS Department of Labor are considered taxable income by both federal and state. The 1099-G you received shows the total amount you collected during the tax year. If you had taxes withheld, that will show up as well. You'll need to report the full amount as income on your tax return, but any taxes that were withheld will count as payments toward what you owe.
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Savannah Vin
•So even though I only had taxes taken out of some payments, I still have to pay taxes on everything? That seems unfair since I was already struggling financially.
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Makayla Shoemaker
yeah i found this out the hard way last year... unemployment counts as regular income so if you didnt have enough taxes taken out you might owe money. i ended up owing like $800 because i chose not to withhold taxes thinking id save money but it backfired
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Savannah Vin
•Oh no! That's exactly what I'm afraid of. I wish NYS Department of Labor explained this better when I was filing my weekly claims.
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Christian Bierman
The key thing is to make sure you report everything accurately. Your 1099-G should match what you actually received from NYS Department of Labor - if there's a discrepancy, you need to contact them to get it corrected before filing your taxes. Also, keep in mind that if you had to pay back any overpayments during the year, that would reduce your taxable unemployment income.
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Emma Olsen
Wait so does this mean unemployment benefits count the same as regular job income?? I thought since it was government assistance it would be different. This is so confusing and now I'm panicking about my taxes!
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Mason Stone
•Yes, for tax purposes unemployment benefits are treated as ordinary income, just like wages from a job. The only difference is you get a 1099-G instead of a W-2.
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Lucas Lindsey
I had a nightmare trying to get through to NYS Department of Labor about a 1099-G issue last year. Spent weeks calling and getting disconnected. Finally used a service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that actually got me connected to a real person within a few minutes. They have a video demo at https://youtu.be/qyftW-mnTNI showing how it works. Saved me so much frustration when I needed to verify my benefit amounts for tax purposes.
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Sophie Duck
•Never heard of that service but honestly anything is better than trying to call NYS Department of Labor directly. Their phone system is impossible.
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Austin Leonard
just to add my experience - i was on unemployment for 6 months and had to pay about $400 extra on my taxes because i didnt withhold enough. but honestly it wasnt as bad as i thought it would be and my tax guy said thats pretty normal for people who collect UI benefits
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