Can you get social security and unemployment at the same time in Texas TWC?

That's exactly what I needed to hear, so they both run at the same time with no offset? I was so worried the TWC person at the office was just wrong but that makes me feel a lot better about filing.

The Social Security retirement piece not being deducted is accurate from what I know, though TWC does look at pensions differently if the pension comes from one of your base period employers. Social Security retirement is its own separate category and doesn't count the same way.

Your dad had to do work search even on Social Security? I guess that makes sense but I never thought about older workers still doing all those applications every week.

So the person at the workforce office had it backwards? I wish they would train those people better because I almost didn't file based on what they said.

Workers comp is also handled differently right? Like TWC looks at that separately too depending on what kind it is?

Workers compensation does get looked at separately, yes. TWC mails you a determination on how it affects your claim specifically because it depends on the type. But Social Security retirement is clear cut, it doesn't reduce your weekly unemployment payment at all.

SSDI doesn't get deducted from your unemployment payment either, so the money side works out the same. But there's a separate issue with SSDI specifically, which is that to get unemployment you have to be able and available for full time work every single week. If your SSDI is based on a disability that prevents full time work, that could be a problem for your unemployment claim because you need to be ready and able to take a full time job.

Okay that makes a lot more sense now. So it's not that SSDI cancels the money, it's more that the ability to work question is what could get complicated. I'll have to think about whether I can honestly say I'm available for full time work.

Yeah that's a really important distinction. The SSA has its own rules about what you can earn while on SSDI and TWC has its own rules about being available for work, and those two sets of rules don't always point in the same direction for someone trying to do both.

Good point, I definitely want to make sure I'm reporting everything right. I'd rather over report than under report and end up with an overpayment notice later.

Overpayment situations are brutal and TWC has to collect every dollar back no matter what, so yes being thorough on the payment requests is always the right call.

Does reporting Social Security on the payment request form actually trigger anything or does it just sit there in the system? Like does a person look at it or is it automated?

Five a week is a lot! I need to find out how many I have to do in my county. I'm not in Harris County so hopefully it's fewer.

TWC mails you a letter with your specific number, that letter is what you go by. Don't just assume it's the same as someone else's county, every local Workforce Development Board sets its own number and it ranges from one to five depending on where you are.

Five in Harris County seems aggressive but I guess that's because it's such a big job market. Dallas and Tarrant are also five from what I remember.

Honestly I appreciate you being direct about it. I was second guessing myself so much after that conversation.

It's frustrating because those offices are supposed to be helping people and instead they give out incorrect information. Same thing happened to someone I know who was told they couldn't collect because they were over 65 which is also completely false.

The age thing is another one that's just not true. There's no age cutoff for Texas unemployment benefits. As long as you meet the wage and work history requirements in your base period you can file regardless of age.

I was worried part time work might disqualify me entirely but it sounds like it just affects how much I get rather than whether I qualify at all, as long as I hit those thresholds.

Exactly right. Your weekly benefit amount is figured by taking your best quarter wages and dividing by 25. The minimum is $76 and the max is $619 for claims filed this time of year. Part time wages can still get you to a qualifying amount, it'll just be lower than if you were full time.

The base period math confused me for so long. So they don't just look at your most recent job, they look at a whole year of work history basically?

Roughly a year yes, four calendar quarters. And it's intentionally not your most recent quarter because that one is usually still being reported to TWC when you file. That's why there's the five completed quarters and they use the first four of those.

SSI doesn't get deducted from your unemployment payment either. But the same availability for work requirement applies as with any other claimant. And SSI has its own rules about reporting other income, so you would need to report any unemployment benefits you receive to the Social Security Administration separately because that could affect your SSI payments on their end. That's an SSA question not a TWC question.

Oh that's a good point I hadn't thought about. So TWC doesn't care about the SSI but SSA might care about the unemployment. I need to look into that side of it too.

I haven't filed yet so I haven't run into this but good to know. So after I apply I just wait for that letter with the date and then start the payment requests on that schedule?

Pretty much, yes. You can do it in UBS online at apps.twc.texas.gov/UBS/security/logon.do or on Tele-Serv by phone. Sunday through Wednesday is the regular filing window, and if you miss that you have Thursday through Saturday as a backup for that same period.

I missed my first payment request and panicked thinking I lost those weeks forever. TWC was actually able to help me sort it out but it took a lot of phone calls to get anyone on the line.

That's a helpful distinction. My Social Security is obviously not from the warehouse where I worked so I should be in the clear on that front.

Exactly, that's the line TWC draws. Pension from a base period employer gets deducted, Social Security does not. Pension from an employer outside your base period apparently doesn't get deducted either, though checking your determination letter on that one is always smart.

It really caught me off guard when my payment was lower than expected. I had no idea the pension would affect it until I got the determination letter. Always read those letters carefully.

Okay so my first check is going to be for one week not two? That's annoying but good to know in advance so I don't panic when I see it.

Yeah the first payment usually covers just one week and comes around four weeks after you file. After that it's on the every two weeks schedule. The timeline at the start feels slow but then it levels out.

The four week wait is real, make sure you've got some bridge money or can float your expenses for that first month. The Social Security payments at least give you something coming in during that gap.

Reported mine every two weeks for four months and never got flagged for anything. Social Security retirement going in that field doesn't seem to trigger adjudication because TWC already knows it doesn't affect eligibility. The adjudication issues I've seen more commonly come from work separations or unreported earnings.

That's reassuring, I think I was overthinking it. Adjudication sounds terrifying from everything I've read on here even when people haven't done anything wrong.

Adjudication just means TWC needs to look at something more closely before making a decision. It's not automatically bad, it's just a process. Annoying and slow but not the end of the world.

I do actually want to find another job so the work search part doesn't bother me that much. I genuinely want to stay active and working, the warehouse thing was just my hours and pay that worked for my schedule.

That actually makes the work search straightforward then. You're doing it because you mean it, not just checking boxes. Keep records of everything though because TWC can ask for your work search log at any point.

What counts as a work search activity? Like does applying on Indeed count or does it have to be something more formal?

Applications on job sites like Indeed count, employer contacts count, interviews count. WorkInTexas.com also has activities built in. Keep the job posting, the date you applied, the company name and position, and how you applied. That's the basic log format.

I may need to try that myself. I still have some questions about my specific base period wages and want to talk to an actual agent rather than just going off forum advice.

The phone situation with TWC is genuinely rough, I spent almost two hours in a hold loop before giving up. Good to know there are other options out there for getting through.

Thank you for bringing it back to the simple answer. I've got enough to go ahead and file now. I'll do it today.

Good luck with the filing. The UBS system is pretty straightforward once you get started, just have your work history and employer info ready.

That's a genuinely confusing pair of terms. Base period equals the past, benefit year equals the future window. Once I had it framed that way it clicked.

Exactly, past wages versus future window. I wish TWC explained it that simply on their website.

The other thing worth knowing is that your maximum benefit amount isn't just 26 weeks times your weekly rate automatically. It's either 26 times your weekly amount OR 27 percent of all your base period wages, whichever is smaller. For part time workers the percentage cap can sometimes be the binding one.

Texas TWC unemployment is federally taxable income, that's correct. You can opt to have ten percent withheld automatically through TWC or handle it yourself at tax time. The downstream effects on things like Medicare IRMAA are outside of what TWC deals with though, that would be an SSA or tax question. TWC mails you a 1099-G every January and you can also find it in UBS under the tax information section.

Fair enough, that one is probably too far downstream for a TWC thread. Good to know about the 1099-G though.

Texas not having a state income tax is one of the genuinely nice things about living here. The 1099-G from TWC only matters for your federal return.

Does that mean TWC can't take state tax refunds for overpayments the way some states do? Or they collect through a different mechanism?

Since there's no state income tax there are no state tax refunds to intercept. If you owe TWC money back for an overpayment they collect it by keeping future benefit payments, through the federal Treasury Offset Program which can grab federal tax refunds, or through the Texas Comptroller which can hold back things like lottery winnings. They can also file a lien through an Abstract of Assessment. They have multiple ways to collect and there's no hardship exception, they have to recover every dollar.

That's reassuring, I was nervous that maybe because I'm a retiree technically there would be some angle where they'd say I didn't really need the job or something. But a layoff is a layoff I guess.

TWC doesn't factor in whether you need it financially or whether you have other income. The eligibility criteria are your work history wages, the reason for separation, and your ongoing availability and work search activities. Period.

If any complications do come up after you file, being able to reach a live agent quickly makes a real difference. Claimyr is what my dad used for that and it's worth having in your back pocket if something looks off in UBS.