ESD payment less than approved amount - tax withholding question

Yes, that's tax withholding. When you filed your initial claim, you must have selected to have taxes withheld (which is actually smart). ESD withholds 10% for federal taxes from UI benefits. $467 minus 10% = $420.30, so there might be a small rounding difference or another minor adjustment, but that's essentially what you're seeing.

congrats on finally getting paid!! the system is such a mess, took me 10 weeks to get my first payment 🙄

You can verify the tax withholding by logging into your eServices account and going to your claim summary. Look for the "Payment History" section and click on the specific payment. It should show a breakdown including the gross amount, tax withholding, and net payment amount. Remember that unemployment benefits are fully taxable income, so having taxes withheld now saves you from a potential tax bill next April. You'll get a 1099-G form from ESD in January for filing your taxes.

THEY ALWAYS TAKE MORE THAN THEY SHOULD!!!! I had the same issue and when I FINALLY got someone on the phone after weeks of trying, they said it was "normal" but couldn't explain exactly why the math didn't add up. ESD is a disaster and they just do whatever they want with our money!!

I spent three days trying to call ESD about a similar issue last month and couldn't get through. Then I found a service called Claimyr that got me connected to an ESD agent in about 20 minutes. They have a demo video at https://youtu.be/7DieNd3C7zQ?si=26TzE_zGms-DODN3 that shows how it works. The agent confirmed my payment differences were just tax withholding and showed me where to see it on my account. Saved me a ton of stress wondering if something was wrong with my claim.

To find the tax withholding breakdown: 1. Log into eServices 2. Select your current claim 3. On the left menu, click "Weekly Summary" 4. Find the week that was paid and click "Details" 5. You should see a line item for "Federal Tax Withholding" If you ever want to change your withholding preference, you can do that by clicking on "Settings" and then "Update Tax Withholding."

when i got unemploymnet in 2018 i didnt have taxes taken out and wow did i regret it at tax time lol. ur doing it the smart way trust me

One more thing to be aware of - sometimes ESD will adjust your claim amount slightly based on other factors. For example, if you had any part-time earnings during a week, or if there was an offset for something like child support. The adjustment might not be taxes in those cases. But since you mentioned this is your first payment and the difference is almost exactly 10%, tax withholding is definitely what you're seeing.