Is unemployment compensation included gross income for NYS Department of Labor benefits?
I'm really confused about tax stuff with my unemployment benefits. I've been getting UI payments from NYS Department of Labor for about 8 weeks now and I'm trying to figure out if this counts as gross income when I fill out forms or applications. Like when I apply for apartments or loans, do I include my weekly unemployment amount as part of my gross income? Also not sure if this affects my job search requirements or anything with NYS Department of Labor. Can someone explain how this works?
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Henrietta Beasley
Yes, unemployment compensation from NYS Department of Labor is considered taxable income by the IRS and New York State. You'll receive a 1099-G form at the end of the year showing your total benefits received. For applications like housing or credit, you should include your UI payments as income since it's money you're regularly receiving. However, make sure to specify it's temporary unemployment income.
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Diego Fisher
•Thanks! So I should include it on rental applications then? I wasn't sure if landlords would accept unemployment as qualifying income.
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Lincoln Ramiro
yeah its definitely taxable income, learned that the hard way last year when i owed taxes on my unemployment benefits lol. didnt realize i needed to have taxes withheld
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Faith Kingston
You can choose to have federal and state taxes withheld from your weekly unemployment payments when you file your weekly claims with NYS Department of Labor. This prevents owing a large amount at tax time. Go to your my.ny.gov account and look for the tax withholding option in your payment preferences.
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Emma Johnson
•This is really helpful! I had no idea I could set up withholding. Does this affect the amount I receive each week or is it just taken out before they send the payment?
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Faith Kingston
•It reduces your weekly payment amount. If you elect withholding, they'll deduct the taxes before sending your benefit payment, so you'll receive less each week but won't owe as much in April.
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Liam Brown
The whole system is ridiculous! They make you jump through hoops for job searches, then tax you on the benefits you're forced to take while unemployed. NYS Department of Labor should make this clearer when people first file claims.
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Olivia Garcia
If you're having trouble reaching someone at NYS Department of Labor to get specific answers about your benefits or tax withholding, I used a service called Claimyr (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. Really saved me hours of calling and getting busy signals when I needed to update my withholding preferences.
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Diego Fisher
•How much does that cost? I've been trying to call for weeks about changing my tax withholding but can never get through.
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Noah Lee
Just to add - when I was collecting unemployment last year, some landlords were hesitant about UI as income verification, but others accepted it as long as I could show consistent payment history and had a good credit score. Having documentation from NYS Department of Labor about your benefit amount definitely helps with applications.
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