Is unemployment earned income or unearned income for Washington ESD benefits?

Unemployment benefits are generally considered unearned income for most purposes. You didn't work to earn those specific payments - they're based on your past work history but the actual weekly payments are insurance benefits.

For tax purposes unemployment is definitely unearned income. Washington ESD will send you a 1099-G form at tax time showing your total benefits received. It's taxable but classified as unearned income on your tax return.

If you're having trouble getting through to Washington ESD to clarify this or other questions, I found this service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that helps you actually reach a live agent. They have a demo video at https://youtu.be/7DieNd3C7zQ showing how it works. Saved me hours of trying to call.

depends on what form you're filling out tbh. some forms might classify it differently. what kind of paperwork are you doing?

I had the same confusion last year! For every form I've filled out, unemployment goes in the unearned income section. Banks, apartments, government forms - they all treat UI benefits as unearned income.

The way I think about it is earned income = you worked for it recently, unearned income = you didn't work for it currently (like benefits, interest, etc). So unemployment is unearned even though you had to work in the past to qualify.

Just be careful because some forms might have specific definitions. Most of the time it's unearned but if you're unsure about a particular form it's worth asking whoever issued it.

Been on unemployment twice and it's always gone under unearned income for me. Never had anyone question it or ask me to change it.

I work at a nonprofit that helps people with financial paperwork and we always tell clients to put unemployment benefits under unearned income. It's the standard classification across all the forms we see.

For what it's worth, when I applied for food stamps they specifically told me unemployment goes under unearned income on their forms. Seems pretty consistent across different agencies.

Quick question - do you know if the job search requirement affects how it's classified? Like since we have to look for work?

I remember being confused about this too when I first started getting benefits. The Washington ESD website has some info about it if you want to double check, though it can be hard to find specific pages sometimes.

Another thing to keep in mind is that if you do any part-time work while on unemployment, those wages would be earned income that you report separately from your UI benefits.

I used Claimyr recently to get through to someone at Washington ESD about a different question and they confirmed unemployment is unearned income when I asked. The agent was really helpful once I actually got connected.

This thread is really helpful! I was wondering about the same thing for my mortgage refinance paperwork. Sounds like unearned income is definitely the way to go.

Just to add one more confirmation - my accountant told me unemployment is unearned income for tax purposes and that's how it should be reported on other forms too. Seems like everyone's on the same page about this.