PA UC self-employment commission income exceeding weekly allowance - report or skip certifying?

defintely report it!! if u skip and they find out later through tax records, theyll hit u with an overpayment and possibly fraud charges. just report all earnings for the week, get $0 for that week, and then go back to normal next week. ur claim stays active for a yr after u file.

Always report all earnings for the week you performed the work, not when you get paid. This is an important distinction for self-employment. If you actually did the work over several weeks but just got paid in one lump sum, you should apportion the earnings to the weeks when you actually performed the services. PA UC has specific rules about this for self-employment income. And yes, definitely certify every week regardless of your income level. Skipping a week of certification can cause your claim to become inactive and you'd need to reopen it, which creates unnecessary delays.

I had something similar happen last year with a consulting gig. The UC people told me that for self-employment, it's when you do the work not when you get paid that matters. But honestly the whole thing is confusing as heck.

This is correct. For self-employment, you report earnings for the week you performed the work, not when you received payment. If this $1,450 was for work done over multiple weeks, you need to divide it accordingly. However, if the work was genuinely all performed in one week, then yes, report the full amount for that week, receive $0 in benefits, and continue certifying as normal the following week. Your benefit year remains active regardless of whether you receive a payment each week or not, as long as you continue to certify regularly. Documentation is key here - keep records of when work was performed versus when payment was received in case there's ever an audit of your claim.

Been there!!! Whatever you do, KEEP FILING WEEKLY CLAIMS! I made the mistake of not filing for one week when I made good money, and my whole claim got messed up. Had to call them to reopen it and waited almost 3 weeks with no money. The system is so stupid sometimes.

If you're having trouble reaching someone at PA UC to clarify how to properly report your self-employment earnings, you might want to try Claimyr. I was stuck in a similar situation last month and couldn't get through on the phones for days. Claimyr got me connected to a UC agent in about 20 minutes. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/CEPETxZdo9E?si=WL1ZzVZWG3KiHrg2 and their website is claimyr.com. The agent I spoke with was able to help me understand exactly how to report my variable income.

I'm dealing with a similar situation and now I'm completely confused. Some people are saying report when paid, others saying report when the work was done. Which is it?? The PA UC website isn't clear at all about this. I've been reporting everything the week I get paid but now I'm worried I've been doing it wrong this whole time!

Thanks everyone for the advice! I went ahead and looked at my records and split the commission payment based on the hours I worked each week. I reported about $483 for each of the past three weeks (had to call in to correct the previous two weeks). The agent was actually really understanding once I explained I just learned about how to properly report self-employment income. My benefits will be reduced but not eliminated for each week, which is a much better outcome than getting nothing for one week! Definitely learned my lesson about how PA UC handles self-employment income.