Waiting for California’s new COVID unemployment payment? You may have to be patient
Is the extra $300 promised in the latest economic relief bill coming soon? Hard to say.
That benefit was supposed to end March 13, but was extended through early September in the new economic relief plan signed into law by President Joe Biden earlier this month.
Qualifying people receiving their regular unemployment insurance payments — that is, people who get benefits because their employer paid into the system, or those on the FED-ED extended benefits program — will keep getting the additional $300 a week, uninterrupted.
An estimated 95% of the 1.2 million people receiving Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, the year-old federal program that helps independent contractors, self-employed people and others, should also see no interruption.
About half the 1.4 million people who receive Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation, which provides aid to people who have used all their available regular state benefits, should be able to paid without interruption.
The PUA and PEUC recipients who will continue to collect benefits without interruption are those who had a balance of benefits remaining on their claims after March 13.
Those who did not will see a lag of up to four weeks.
Any missed benefits will be paid retroactively as long as claimants meet eligibility requirements for those weeks.
The federal Department of Labor said many states need time to adjust their systems.
“Acknowledging that states need time to modify their computer systems to accommodate the extensions and modifications provided under (the new legislation), the department expects many states will need until the middle of April or later to implement the new provisions and begin notifying individuals,” said Suzan LeVine, principal deputy assistant Labor secretary, in a memo to state officials last week.
EDD spokeswoman Loree Levy did note that new PUA claimants can get the minimum $167 per week in benefits — plus the extra $300 federal assistance payment for each week of benefits they collect “until we get the programming in place starting April 10 to recalculate the PUA claims and be able to accept the documentation needed to substantiate a higher weekly benefit amount.”
Some people told The Sacramento Bee Monday they had trouble reaching EDD.
Levy said that beginning on Sunday, “some claimants looking to certify for their next two-week period of benefits encountered intermittent issues with the system. We still had more than a half million people come through to certify and certifications continue coming through today.
“We apologize for the inconvenience. If claimants encounter an issue while certifying for benefits, we recommend they check back a little later,” she said. “EDD’s Information Technology team continues to work on resolving the issue to mitigate impacts. When the issue is resolved, we’ll update the text on the SDI and UI Online pages.”
New tax break
This much is clear: The new law makes the first $10,200 in 2020 unemployment benefits nontaxable for people with incomes of less than $150,000.
If someone hasn’t filed their federal taxes yet, the Internal Revenue Service will have a worksheet for paper filers. For those filing electronically, the IRS says it will “work with the software industry to update current tax software so that taxpayers can determine how to report their unemployment income on their 2020 tax return.”
If they have already filed, they need not file an amended return.
“Let us take care of it,” IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig told the House Ways and Means Committee Thursday.
“We believe that we will be able to automatically issue refunds associated with the $10,200,” he said.
If someone has already filed, or received a refund, they shouldn’t worry. Rettig said if appropriate, they’ll get a refund that reflects the unemployment tax break.
This story was originally published March 23, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
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