When is federal unemployment tax due - confused about employer responsibilities vs my claim
I'm getting really confused about when federal unemployment tax is due and how it affects my NYS Department of Labor claim. My former employer keeps saying they can't verify my wages because of some federal tax deadline issue, and now my unemployment claim has been stuck in adjudication for over 5 weeks. Does anyone know if there's a connection between when employers have to pay their federal unemployment taxes and when they report wages to NYS Department of Labor? I'm worried this is going to delay my benefits even more.
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Maya Jackson
Federal unemployment tax (FUTA) is typically due quarterly by employers, but this shouldn't directly impact your individual NYS Department of Labor claim processing. Employers are required to report wages to the state unemployment insurance system on a separate timeline. Your adjudication delay is more likely related to wage verification or work separation issues rather than federal tax deadlines.
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Nathan Dell
•Thanks for clarifying! So my employer can't use federal tax deadlines as an excuse for not reporting my wages to NYS Department of Labor?
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Tristan Carpenter
I had a similar situation last year where my employer claimed they couldn't verify wages due to 'tax issues' - turned out they just hadn't submitted their quarterly wage reports to NYS Department of Labor on time. After 6 weeks of adjudication, I finally got through to someone using Claimyr (claimyr.com) to reach an actual NYS Department of Labor agent. They explained that employers have to submit wage data regardless of their federal tax status. The agent was able to contact my employer directly and get my claim approved within a week. There's even a video demo at https://youtu.be/qyftW-mnTNI showing how to use it.
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Amaya Watson
•Never heard of Claimyr before but anything that helps reach NYS Department of Labor agents sounds useful. The phone lines are always jammed.
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Nathan Dell
•That sounds exactly like my situation! My employer keeps giving me the runaround about wage reporting. I'll definitely check out that service.
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Grant Vikers
wait so when ARE federal unemployment taxes due?? I thought it was annual but someone told me quarterly
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Maya Jackson
•FUTA taxes are due quarterly if the employer owes more than $500, otherwise annually. But again, this is separate from NYS Department of Labor wage reporting requirements for unemployment claims.
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Giovanni Martello
Your employer is probably just trying to delay reporting to avoid paying higher unemployment insurance rates. The federal unemployment tax deadline has NOTHING to do with their obligation to report your wages to NYS Department of Labor for your claim. This is exactly the kind of bureaucratic BS that makes dealing with unemployment so frustrating!
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Savannah Weiner
•Ugh this is why I hate dealing with all this unemployment stuff. Too many different agencies and deadlines to keep track of.
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