Reporting freelance contract payments to ESD - confused about per-project vs hourly earnings
I just started doing some graphic design work while on unemployment, but I'm totally confused about how to report it to ESD. The company pays me a flat fee per project ($275-500 depending on complexity), not hourly wages. I finished a project last week that took me about 12 hours spread over 3 days, and they paid me $350. How the heck do I report this for my weekly claim? Do I divide the fee by hours worked? Or report it all on the day I got paid? The ESD weekly claim form seems designed only for hourly work and I don't want to mess this up and get hit with an overpayment later. Anyone else deal with reporting freelance/contract work on their claims?
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Caden Nguyen
You need to report the earnings in the week you perform the work, not when you get paid. Since you worked on it over 3 days in one week, you'd report the full $350 for that week. ESD doesn't care about the hourly breakdown for self-employed or contract work - they just want the total earnings for work performed that week. Make sure you keep good records showing when you worked on each project (dates) and how much you earned. If you ever get questioned, you'll need documentation showing which weeks the work was performed in.
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Harper Hill
•Thanks, that makes sense! So even if I don't get the payment until weeks later, I should still report it for the week I actually did the work? My worry is sometimes these projects stretch across multiple weeks - like I might work 3 hours one week and 9 hours the next week, but get one flat payment. Should I try to divide it proportionally?
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Avery Flores
I did similar work last year on UI. The ESD rep told me to divide the flat fee by the days I worked on it. So if it took 3 days and you got $350, thats about $116 per day. Report the earnings on the days you actually worked. Keep a detailed log though!!
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Zoe Gonzalez
•This is actually incorrect advice. You don't report by day - you report by week. ESD specifically states that for self-employment and contract work, you report the earnings in the week you perform the work, regardless of when you get paid. If the project spans multiple weeks, you should divide the earnings based on the percentage of work completed each week. From ESD's website: "If you are self-employed or an independent contractor, report your gross earnings for the week you perform the work, not when you receive payment for the work.
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Ashley Adams
whatever u do dont try to hide any of it cuz thats fraud and they'll nail u for it believe me
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Harper Hill
•Definitely not trying to hide anything! I want to report it correctly, just confused about how to calculate it properly since it's not regular hourly work.
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Alexis Robinson
I've been doing freelance web development while on unemployment and had the same issue. The way I handle it is to estimate how much of the project I completed each week. So if you did a $350 project that took 12 hours total, with 3 hours one week and 9 hours the next, I'd report $87.50 (25%) for the first week and $262.50 (75%) for the second week. I keep extremely detailed records of my work hours and calculations in case I ever get audited. So far ESD has never questioned me about it in the past 7 months. Honestly though, trying to reach ESD to get official clarification is nearly impossible these days. I spent weeks trying to get through on the phone before giving up.
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Aaron Lee
•Tried calling ESD 46 times last month about a similar question. Gave up after getting disconnected every time.
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Chloe Mitchell
If you want to get through to ESD to ask them directly about this, I'd recommend trying Claimyr (claimyr.com). Saved me hours of redial hell when I had a similar reporting question. They have a system that holds your place in the ESD queue and calls you when an agent is available. Watched their demo at https://youtu.be/7DieNd3C7zQ?si=26TzE_zGms-DODN3 and it worked exactly as shown. The agent I spoke with told me to divide contract earnings across weeks based on percentage of work completed each week.
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Harper Hill
•Thanks, I might try that. I've been trying to call for days with no luck. It would be nice to get an official answer from ESD themselves.
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Caden Nguyen
One more important thing: make sure you're still doing your required job search activities each week (3 per week). Even if you're doing freelance work, you still need to be looking for full-time employment unless you have an approved Standby status. A lot of people get tripped up on this and end up with disqualified weeks.
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Harper Hill
•Good point! Yes, I'm still doing all my job searches. The freelance work isn't nearly enough to live on, it's just helping pay some bills while I look for a full-time position.
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Avery Flores
Do they deduct 100% of ur freelance earnings from ur benefits? The whole system is so unfair to freelancers!!
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Caden Nguyen
•They don't deduct 100% of your earnings. ESD has an earnings deduction chart. The first $5 of earnings has no impact, and after that they deduct approximately 75% of your earnings from your benefit. So if you earn $100 in a week, roughly $71.25 would be deducted from your benefit payment. You can find the exact calculation on the ESD website under "Earnings Deduction Chart.
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Toot-n-Mighty
Just wanted to add that you should also keep copies of all your invoices and contracts for these freelance projects. ESD may ask for documentation during their periodic reviews, and having everything organized will save you a lot of headaches. I learned this the hard way when they requested records going back 6 months and I had to scramble to find everything. Also, if you're using any business expenses (software, equipment, etc.) for your freelance work, keep those receipts too - you might be able to deduct them when you file taxes, which could help offset some of the reduced unemployment benefits.
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