How Long Does It Take to Collect Unemployment Again
The benefits of self-employment are numerous. You maintain a large caste of independence in when, where and how you work. You accept aplenty flexibility in whom you piece of work with and in pursuing your own vision of success. You may not even have to commute.
Only alongside all of the perks of working for yourself is — or traditionally has been — a consequential downside: Self-employed people, independent contractors, freelancers and gig workers take never had the protection of unemployment insurance benefits when they lose work or income. Until, that is, the Usa authorities passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act in March 2020.
Nether the CARES Act, states were given the choice of providing unemployment benefits to self-employed people, including contained contractors, freelancers and gig workers, whose employment was impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic — and this decision shifted financial situations in some key ways. If you work for yourself, information technology's vital to learn about unemployment insurance for self-employed people in the United States, forth with what the contempo policy changes could mean for you.
What Are Independent Contractors?
Unemployment programs in the United States often refer to people who are cocky-employed, freelancers or gig workers as "independent contractors." But what is an independent contractor?
An independent contractor provides goods or services to someone else, merely without doing so under the direction of an employer. Unlike employees, who work for another person'south business concern, independent contractors take their own "business" and provide services to their own clients. The human relationship betwixt an independent contractor and the client to whom the contractor is providing goods or services is non an employment relationship; it'due south an contained contractor relationship.
There are countless types of jobs that fall into this category; freelance writers, commitment drivers, rideshare drivers (in many cases) and landscapers are all potential examples. But, generally, anyone who's working for themselves and doesn't have an employer dictating their work and how it'll be done tin be classified as an independent contractor.
The lines betwixt employment relationships and independent contractor relationships can certainly mistiness, nevertheless. They're different in some states and depend on whether you're dealing with revenue enhancement, labor or benefits bug. Just, ultimately, independent contractors — whether yous call them self-employed people, freelancers, gig workers or contractors — are eligible for cocky-employed unemployment insurance under the CARES Deed.
How Can Independent Contractors Qualify for Unemployment Insurance Benefits?
Normally, independent contractors weren't eligible to receive unemployment benefits because those benefits were designed for employees of businesses. That'due south because their employers pay taxes into the state and federal unemployment programs that provide these benefits — independent contractors don't fund these systems. However, the CARES Human activity — an economic stimulus beak that was designed to provide relief to people impacted financially by the COVID-19 pandemic — significantly expanded eligibility criteria to include independent contractors. The U.South. Department of Labor notes that independent contractors may now exist eligible for unemployment insurance benefits:
- If they're unemployed, partially unemployed, or unable or unavailable to work because of the COVID-xix pandemic
- If they don't authorize for normal unemployment benefits (you tin can't become both regular and self-employed unemployment insurance benefits)
- If they're dealing with certain health or economic consequences from the pandemic
- If they alive in certain areas, as different states handle the CARES Act's provisions differently
What could you exist entitled to? Hither more than details from the Department of Labor: "The PUA [Pandemic Unemployment Help] plan provides up to 39 weeks of benefits, which are available retroactively starting with weeks of unemployment kickoff on or later on Jan 27, 2020, and ending on or before December 31, 2020. The corporeality of benefits paid out will vary by state and are calculated based on the weekly do good amounts (WBA) provided under a state's unemployment insurance laws. Under the CARES Act, the WBA may be supplemented past the additional unemployment help provided nether the Human activity."
This data refers to a December 31, 2020, cutoff. Many provisions of the CARES legislation were continued across December 31, 2020, but with changes and new linguistic communication that described them.
To learn how to apply for unemployment benefits in your state and get information about exactly which benefits you may be entitled to, visit the CareerOneStop website, which is sponsored by the Section of Labor. Be certain to expect up specific information that matches your location and circumstances. The filing process tin be complex and detailed, so information technology'south important to follow each step precisely.
What Y'all'll Demand to File for Unemployment Benefits
As mentioned, some states require different specific pieces of information, just in that location are some basics that you'll need to become the process started merely nigh everywhere:
- Your name, phone number and full mailing address
- Your commuter's license number or state identification number
- Your Social Security number or Alien Registration number
- Proof of income, including documents like 1099 tax forms, W-2 tax forms, pay stubs, income taxation returns, banking company statements or record books
- Your bank account number and routing number if yous alive in a state where unemployment insurance benefits are paid by directly deposit
Every bit a full general rule, you lot should file a claim for unemployment benefits in the land where you lot worked. If you're in an unusual situation in which you worked in a state other than where y'all live or if you worked in several different states, contact the land unemployment insurance office where you currently live to determine the state where you should file your claim.
Are At that place Other Pandemic-Related Benefits Available for Self-Employed People?
Here's the short respond: Yeah. A medium-sized answer follows, but the longest and fullest answer with all the details and information you lot need is one you should examine with assistance from the labor department in the state where y'all live. Whether or non yous're eligible for any of these benefits will depend on your personal circumstances and your ability to provide the information necessary to substantiate your claim.
The Paycheck Protection Programme (PPP)
You lot may be a self-employed person who doesn't work for anyone else, but y'all may also be an employer of other people. Independent contractors who apply other people may be entitled to participate in the PPP, a program of the United states Small Concern Administration designed to encourage people to keep their workers employed during the pandemic.
The Self-Employment Assistance Plan (SEAP)
The Department of Labor's Employment & Training Administration has developed SEAP, a program intended to help employees who have lost their jobs to create their own jobs past starting businesses. If you were an employee but have been or are trying to develop your own business (meaning yous'll somewhen be self-employed, a freelancer or an independent contractor), you may be eligible for a self-employment assistance allowance instead of regular unemployment insurance benefits. There'southward an important thing to go along in mind, though: SEAP is a voluntary program that states tin can participate in, but non all states do. To find out whether your country offers SEAP, visit CareerOneStop'due south Unemployment Benefits Finder.
In many ways, the COVID-19 pandemic has introduced unprecedented stresses into the U.S. economic system and the personal financial circumstances of millions of residents, including people who are self-employed. In response to those challenges, governments have introduced unprecedented forms of back up, fifty-fifty for independent contractors. Attempt not to presume anything about your entitlements, simply do look at the specifics of your land and needs carefully.
Source: https://www.askmoney.com/insurance/unemployment-insurance-self-employed-workers?utm_content=params%3Ao%3D1465803%26ad%3DdirN%26qo%3DserpIndex
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