Is unemployment included gross income for taxes - NYS Department of Labor benefits
I've been receiving unemployment benefits from NYS Department of Labor since October and now I'm trying to figure out my taxes. Do I need to include my weekly unemployment payments as gross income? I got about $8,200 total in benefits last year but I'm not sure if this counts as taxable income or not. The 1099-G form from NYS Department of Labor is confusing me - does this mean I owe taxes on all of it?
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Sofia Hernandez
Yes, unemployment benefits from NYS Department of Labor are considered taxable income by both federal and state tax authorities. You'll need to report the full amount shown on your 1099-G form as income. The good news is you can elect to have taxes withheld from your weekly claims to avoid a big bill at tax time.
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Dylan Campbell
•I didn't have any taxes withheld! Am I going to owe a lot? Should I have been doing that from the beginning?
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Dmitry Kuznetsov
same boat here, got like 6k in benefits and totally forgot about taxes until now ugh
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Ava Thompson
You can set up tax withholding when you file your weekly claims through the NYS Department of Labor website. Go to your my.ny.gov account and look for the tax withholding option in your weekly claim filing section. I always recommend withholding 10% federal and 3-4% state to be safe.
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Miguel Ramos
•Wait can you change the withholding amount after you've already been filing for months? I've been getting benefits since September and never set this up.
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Ava Thompson
•Yes, you can change your withholding election at any time during your claim. Just update it on your next weekly certification and it will apply going forward.
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Zainab Ibrahim
I had such a nightmare trying to get through to NYS Department of Labor to ask about this exact question. Kept getting disconnected after waiting on hold for hours. Finally used this service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that actually got me connected to an agent who explained the whole tax situation. They have a demo video at https://youtu.be/qyftW-mnTNI showing how it works. Saved me so much frustration compared to calling directly.
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StarSailor
•How much did that cost? Seems expensive just to ask a tax question
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Zainab Ibrahim
•Actually wasn't bad at all, way cheaper than paying penalties for messing up my taxes. Plus I got other questions answered about my claim status too.
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Connor O'Brien
THE WHOLE SYSTEM IS A JOKE! They give you money then want it back in taxes, makes no sense. I'm so tired of dealing with NYS Department of Labor bureaucracy and now the IRS too!
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StarSailor
Don't panic about the taxes. Yes you'll owe on the unemployment income but if you're in a lower tax bracket it might not be as bad as you think. Use the IRS tax calculator online to estimate what you'll owe. You can also make quarterly payments if you're still receiving benefits to spread out the tax burden.
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