I have been collecting unemployment benefits since 11/09. In early June I took a 1099 job and thought that since the company doesn’t pay taxes I could still collect unemployment. After reading several comments on websites, I found that it’s considered income and I shouldn’t have collected! So I collected 2 months of unemployment. Am I likely to get caught? Should I just discontinue filing and hope I don’t get audited or should I contact unemployment and somehow pay it back? I’m only getting paid about the same amount as I receive on unemployment.
Thank you
I’ll just bet, if you look at all the material the unemployment office sent you after filing .. it told you somewhere, that you had to report any earnings .. in fact they ask you that every time you file another claim.
It has good potential to be seen as unemployment fraud because you were “informed” and everytime you filed you failed to report it.
It’s kind of like pleading ignorance of an employer’s rule when someone is fired and the employer brings that little piece of paper to the hearing .. called a signed acknowledgment .. which says you have been provided with the rules.
Because I cannot presume to guide you in what is now a matter of conscience and possibly intelligence, I’ll just direct you to the information that provides both fraud and non-fraud interpretations of each states statutes on the subject of repercussions and let you make up your own mind about what you will do.