ESD calculating 401k employer contributions by life expectancy - how long does this take?

I went through this exact situation last year. The employer portion of a 401k is considered deductible income, but ESD has to spread it out over your life expectancy rather than counting it all at once (which would disqualify you completely). In my case: 1. The calculation took almost 3 weeks 2. My claims were still processed but marked as "pending" until the calculation finished 3. They reduced my weekly benefit by about $78 each week The good news is that once they do the calculation, they'll release all the pending payments at once (minus the deductions). So you might get a larger lump sum payment after they finish figuring it out.

my freind had this happen to him last fall they took 5 WEEKS to do the math!!!! his claims all got held up the whole time and he almost got evicted... the esd people are useless and dont care if u become homeless while they take there sweet time!!!

I'm an ESD claims specialist, and I can provide some accurate information about how this works. The life expectancy calculation for 401k employer contributions typically takes 2-4 weeks to process, depending on our current workload and the complexity of your retirement account. The calculation follows these steps: 1. We determine the total employer contribution amount 2. We use IRS life expectancy tables based on your current age 3. We divide the employer contribution by the number of weeks in your life expectancy 4. That weekly amount is deducted from your benefit For example, if your employer portion is $100,000 and your life expectancy is 30 more years (1,560 weeks), the weekly deduction would be approximately $64. Your weekly claims will continue to be processed during this time, but payments may be held until the calculation is complete. Once finished, all held payments will be released to you (minus the calculated deductions).

To answer your question about rollovers vs. withdrawals: If you roll your 401k into an IRA without taking any cash out, there's no deduction because you haven't actually received any income. The deduction only applies when you take an actual distribution (cash payout) from the retirement account.

I had this happen in March when I got laid off from Microsoft. Their calculation took exactly 17 days, and they ended up reducing my weekly benefit by $104. My employer portion was about $215K (I was there for 12 years), and I'm 42 years old, so they spread it across my remaining estimated lifespan. The frustrating part was trying to get updates during those 17 days. I called ESD at least 10 times and could never get through to a real person!!! Just endless hold music and then disconnection.

wait they can take money out of your benefits for 401k???? i just got laid off and took my 401k out to pay bills. Do I need to report this to ESD on my weekly claim????

UPDATE: Just got off the phone with ESD after a 3-hour wait. They told me the calculation should be done by next Friday, and that my first payment will likely include all weeks claimed up to that point. The agent was actually really helpful and explained that for someone my age (41), they divide the employer portion by about 1,700 weeks, so my weekly deduction will probably be around $59. Just sharing in case it helps anyone else in the same boat!

I called at exactly 8:00am and used the option for "questions about an existing claim" instead of the general questions line. Still took forever but at least I got through eventually!

my buddy said they only took like $40 from his check each week and he had a pretty big 401k so maybe it won't be so bad for u!!!