Does getting unemployment affect tax return - NYS Department of Labor benefits and taxes
I was on unemployment for about 6 months last year after getting laid off from my retail job. Now I'm doing my taxes and wondering if the unemployment benefits I got from NYS Department of Labor will mess up my tax return? I got around $8,200 total in UI payments. Do I need to report this as income? Will I owe money back or get less of a refund? I'm really confused about how this works and don't want to screw up my taxes.
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Alina Rosenthal
Yes, unemployment benefits are considered taxable income by the IRS. NYS Department of Labor should have sent you a 1099-G form showing the total amount you received. You'll need to report this on your tax return just like regular wages. The good news is you can choose to have taxes withheld from your weekly unemployment payments to avoid owing money at tax time.
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Mohammad Khaled
•I think I got that form but threw it away thinking it was junk mail! Can I get another copy from NYS Department of Labor?
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Finnegan Gunn
You can log into your my.ny.gov account and download your 1099-G form directly from there. It's under the unemployment services section. Make sure you report the full amount even if you didn't have taxes withheld - unemployment is taxed just like regular income at both federal and state levels.
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Miguel Harvey
•This happened to me too last year. I owed like $600 in taxes because I didn't have anything withheld from my UI payments. Now I always elect to have the maximum taken out.
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Ashley Simian
WAIT I thought unemployment wasn't taxable?? I've been getting benefits for 4 months and nobody told me this affects my taxes. Are you saying I'm going to owe money when I file?? This is so stressful I can barely afford rent as it is
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Alina Rosenthal
•Unfortunately yes, unemployment has always been taxable income. When you first applied, there should have been an option to withhold federal and state taxes from your payments. You can still change this for future payments by updating your preferences in the NYS Department of Labor system.
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Oliver Cheng
I had trouble getting through to NYS Department of Labor when I needed my 1099-G form last year. Kept getting busy signals and their online system was down. Finally used this service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that helped me get connected to an actual agent. They have a video demo at https://youtu.be/qyftW-mnTNI showing how it works. Got my tax form issue resolved in like 20 minutes instead of spending days trying to call.
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Taylor To
•How much does something like that cost? Seems like it would be expensive just to get a tax form.
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Oliver Cheng
•Actually wasn't bad at all, way cheaper than hiring a tax preparer to deal with missing forms. Plus saved me hours of frustration trying to get through the phone lines.
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Ella Cofer
just checked my account and found my 1099g thanks for the reminder about logging into my.ny.gov
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