ESD application question - does 'gross income' include yearly bonus?

Yes, you absolutely need to include your bonus. "Gross income" means ALL income before any deductions - that includes bonuses, commissions, overtime pay, etc. ESD uses this to calculate your benefit amount correctly, so if you don't report it all now, they'll likely catch it later when they verify with your employer and you could end up with an overpayment situation.

i didnt include my bonus when i filed last yr and got flagged for it. had to go thru whole adjudication thing. dont recommend!!

Does anyone know if this is also true for retention bonuses? My company gave us those right before layoffs and I'm not sure if that counts the same way.

Just to provide a bit more detail: "Gross income" refers to ALL earnings before ANY deductions whatsoever - taxes, 401k, health insurance, etc. This includes your regular wages plus any bonuses, commissions, overtime, shift differentials, and other compensation. When ESD calculates your weekly benefit amount, they'll use your highest-earning quarters during your base year. So including your bonus might actually increase your weekly benefit amount depending on when you received it. Also worth mentioning that ESD cross-references your reported wages with what your employer reports quarterly to the state, so they will eventually see all income reported under your SSN.

I HATE how confusing the ESD application is!!! I messed up on my income reporting and now I'm dealing with a $4,900 overpayment notice that I can't afford to pay back. They should make these instructions CLEARER for normal people!! Nobody knows what "gross" vs "net" means unless you're an accountant!!!

If anyone's struggling to reach ESD about income reporting questions (or any other issue), I recently discovered a service called Claimyr that helped me get through to an actual person. Instead of waiting on hold for hours or getting hung up on, they hold your place in line and call you when an agent is available. It saved me so much frustration. Their website is claimyr.com and they have a video demo at https://youtu.be/7DieNd3C7zQ?si=26TzE_zGms-DODN3 that shows how it works. I used it to get clarification on a similar income reporting question and got through in about 35 minutes instead of trying for days.

Just want to add my experience - I accidentally DIDN'T include my quarterly commission in my reported income and had no problems for months until suddenly ESD sent me a letter saying I had an overpayment of $2,800. Had to appeal and everything. So definitely report ALL income including bonuses!

I went through this exact same situation last year! I had a $5,000 signing bonus that I wasn't sure about including. I called ESD (took forever to get through) and they confirmed that ALL compensation from your employer needs to be reported as gross income - base salary, bonuses, commissions, overtime, everything. The rep told me that it's much better to over-report than under-report because they can always adjust down, but if you under-report and they catch it later (which they will when they verify with your employer), you'll face overpayment issues. So definitely include that $7,200 bonus with your base salary for a total of $75,700. Better safe than sorry!

I'm dealing with a similar situation right now - I received a performance bonus in January and wasn't sure if it should be included in my gross income reporting. After reading all these responses, it's clear I need to include it. One thing I'm wondering about though - if the bonus pushes me into a higher benefit calculation, does that mean I might actually get MORE weekly benefits? It seems counterintuitive but based on what Aria mentioned about using your highest-earning quarters, maybe including bonuses could actually work in your favor depending on the timing?