How much tax is taken out of my NYS Department of Labor unemployment check - need help understanding deductions
I just started receiving my unemployment benefits from NYS Department of Labor and I'm confused about the tax situation. My weekly benefit amount is supposed to be $504 but I'm only getting $453 deposited. Is this normal? I thought I could choose whether to have taxes taken out or not. Can someone explain what's happening with my payments? I need to know if this is correct or if there's an issue with my claim.
10 comments
Join the conversation
Jasmine Quinn
Yes, this is normal! NYS Department of Labor automatically withholds 10% for federal taxes unless you specifically opt out. So on $504, they'd take $50.40 for federal taxes. You can change this by logging into your my.ny.gov account and updating your tax withholding preferences in the payment section.
0 coins
Victoria Charity
•Thank you! But that's only $50, I'm missing another $1. Are there other deductions I should know about?
0 coins
Oscar Murphy
check if you have any old overpayments being collected, that could explain the extra dollar missing
0 coins
Nora Bennett
The 10% federal withholding is optional but I'd recommend keeping it. Come tax time, you'll owe taxes on ALL your unemployment income anyway. NYS doesn't tax unemployment benefits but the feds do. Better to have them take it out now than owe a big chunk in April. You can also request additional withholding if you think 10% won't be enough based on your total income for the year.
0 coins
Ryan Andre
•Wait, so New York state doesn't tax unemployment at all? That's actually pretty good compared to other places I've lived.
0 coins
Lauren Zeb
I had trouble reaching NYS Department of Labor when I needed to change my withholding settings. Kept getting busy signals and disconnected calls. Finally used claimyr.com to get through to an actual agent who walked me through the process. They have a video demo at https://youtu.be/qyftW-mnTNI that shows how it works. Made the whole thing so much easier than spending hours on hold.
0 coins
Victoria Charity
•Thanks for the tip! I might need to call them anyway to figure out that missing dollar.
0 coins
Daniel Washington
been getting unemployment for 8 weeks now and yeah the tax thing confused me too at first!! just go with the 10% its easier trust me you dont want to owe money later
0 coins
Amara Nnamani
The missing $1 could be a few different things - sometimes there are small administrative fees or rounding adjustments that aren't always clearly explained. I'd definitely call the NYS DOL to get the exact breakdown of your deductions. Also worth double-checking your benefit calculation - make sure your weekly benefit amount is actually $504 and not slightly less, which could account for the difference. You can find your exact benefit details in your payment history on the my.ny.gov portal.
0 coins
Anastasia Smirnova
•That's really helpful advice! I didn't think to check if my actual benefit amount might be different from what I expected. I'll definitely log into my.ny.gov and look at the payment history to see the exact breakdown. If it's still unclear after that, I'll use that claimyr service someone mentioned to get through to an agent. Really appreciate everyone's help figuring this out!
0 coins