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Unemployment for Self-Employed


GLJEANNE

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Has anyone tried to apply for this yet, or helped clients through it?  MN is telling everyone they should sign up this week, and then when the state knows more from the feds they'll share it.  Once an application is finished, the next step is to Request a Benefit this week for (presumably) the previous week.  This has t be done each week, if you don't request you don't get paid.

Well, based on what??  First of all, how are they going to measure SE income - work billed or received?  And then how is the loss measured - by comparing to the same week last year?  That's going to be fun, since I'm guessing not many people can run reports for a week.

Plus the application process itself tries to shoehorn SE folks into the same questions employees use, but we don't all work the same way.  If you asked me what my hourly rate is, i couldn't begin to tell you - I track hours for some accounting clients, others have a monthly fee, or a project fee, or tax clients pay by-form fees.  I'm guessing a lot of other fields have similar disparities. 

And because that's not fun enough, there are strict schedules for when you're allowed to call with questions, based on your SSN.  Oy!


Has your state issued any guidance yet? 

 

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While I have no dealings with this item, I have been asked for advice.  The one which will "tip" some is unreported tips.  There are many SE types who depend on tips, and not all tips may fall onto their tax return, or into their bank account.  Those who keep real books and document all income and expenses should be able to come up with whatever is required.  The PITA willbe clients who ask for help to prove income which magically appears for this new process.

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Yeah, that's not even a question, any client I found with that situation would be fired on the spot.   And I'm sure most could - sometimes with a ton of work - come up with what's required.  The problem is being asked to request benefits before we even know what's required.

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19 minutes ago, GLJEANNE said:

Yeah, that's not even a question, any client I found with that situation would be fired on the spot.   And I'm sure most could - sometimes with a ton of work - come up with what's required.  The problem is being asked to request benefits before we even know what's required.

Understand.  Same as the business PPP loans, part of the process to determine which plan is most beneficial is knowing all the details.  For PPP, the forgiveness app and rules have not been detailed, and we have seen where the details may not match the law text exactly, so relying on the law text is shaky.

I have known a fair number of hair care people over my time.  They have all been good people, and many have become friends, I would not want to place money on believing all money hit their tax return and bank account, and that all expenses were business.  Thankfully I never have been in a position to talk about their tax returns or compliance.  Morally, I do struggle with whether or not to tip using a card (which will be taxed given the current CC processor 1099 rules) versus cash, which I know might not get completely reported.  Finally, my wife told me what others do with their finances, if I am not involved, is none of my business, so if we happen to or want to tip in cash, don't add it to my worries in life.

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Well, this may work for some contractors, but none of our actual business owners will qualify.  After you spend all the time registering and go through their weird steps for figuring out your earnings and hours, AFTER all that you get the disclaimers, which are identical to those of employees - you have to be actively seeking FT employment in addition to your SE work.

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4 minutes ago, GLJEANNE said:

you have to be actively seeking FT employment

Has your state waived that requirement?  How can anyone be actively seeking at this time except for those that work in essential businesses? 

I haven't seen my state's online app to sign up for benefits, and I'd assume that the app still has all the standard language as usual, but on the main page of the site it states that that requirement has been waived for applicants whose employers were forced to close because of this shutdown.

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Nope.  It's listed as a requirement for SE folks.  I still may try to call them when they have an open period (they have assigned reasons for calling during various days), to see if they can tell me more.
The owners I know have spent their time trying to find ways to still make even a little income (like turning to mail order, or takeout for restaurants), plus hours trying to figure out and apply for any of the programs that might help, plus dealing with vendors and trying to get payment plans, plus helping employees file for unemployment.  Not to mention only now finding out this is a requirement,.

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Well good grief.  I tried 85 times to get through to them today before finally getting to hold for over an hour.  What they said was ignore it.  So why the hell is it in there???  She said that since earlier in the process you say that you're applying because of COVID; so since "Suitable FT employment" doesn't exist now, it negates what you're certifying to.  But she said that's the question on a huge percent of their calls, so why they don't have someone re-word it, who knows. 
Now I get to email back all the clients who got hung up on that....

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Likely, the govt web sites are managed by employees who work for an IT type department.  To have changes made, it takes paperwork to ask, the work to get done and tested, the asking department to test and approve, then the changes go live.  Union employees, even in these times, are not likely allowed any shortcuts.

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