by juliane kellner
(fort myers,. fl)
been working on an off shore fishing charter boat with the same captain for the past four years. i just got laid off due to lack of customers. do i qualify for unemployment benefits if i pay my taxes on a 1099-misc schedule c form? i live in florida
Hi,
Being a 1099 employee does not exclude you from filing a claim if you were an employee, but there are certain types of occupation which exempt an employer from paying UI tax on your wages. I’m not sure, but I don’t think fishing charters would be one of them.
But of course this brings up the possibility that an employer might have believed that since you were a 1099 employee .. they didn’t have to pay UI taxes on what you were paid.
Each state uses a test to make the determination as to if someone was an employee or not.
Because no state likes being stiffed for taxes to fill their unemployment fund .. they take this very seriously.
If you want to see if you might be considered and employee or self employed you can find the test that Florida would use to determine this in the USDOL Coverage chartbook.