New Payments for eligible unemployed adults

Update: You can continue to receive up to an additional 25 weeks of benefits through September 6, 2021 if you have already been receiving Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA), Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC), Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC), or Mixed Earner Unemployment Compensation (MEUC).

• Unemployment Insurance (UI): If you worked in New York State within the last 18 months, you can file a claim for UI. You can claim your benefits weekly for up to 25 weeks while you are unemployed.
  • A typical range of weekly UI benefits, depending on past wages, is about $100-$500 per week
  • Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) – If you reach “0” effective days or exhausted your benefits, you can receive an additional 53 weeks payments by certifying every week through September 6 , 2021.
  • Extended Benefits (EB) – You can receive these benefits after exhausting your normal UI and PEUC benefits.
  • Mixed Earner Unemployment Compensation (MEUC) – You can receive an extra $100 per week if you made more than $5,000 of self-employment or independent contractor income (1099 income) in addition to wage income (W2)
    • Money you receive from MEUC counts toward your income to determine your eligibility for Medicaid
• Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA): Provides weekly payments for people who are ineligible for regular UI. This includes part-time workers, self-employed workers, independent contractors, and those without a recent work history.
  • PUA is extended through September 6, 2021. The number of eligibility weeks is extended to 79 weeks.
  • Payment is based on recent earnings.
  • The usual one-week waiting period for benefits is waived.
  • If you file your first PUA claim after December 27, 2020, you can get retroactive payments for weeks beginning on or after December 6, 2020.
• Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC) – You will get an additional $300 per week on top of your normal UI or PUA payments. This program has been extended to September 6, 2021. (This benefit was once worth $600 per week but has offered $300 per week since late December 2020.)
• You can continue certifying for benefits after your Benefit Year Ending (BYE) date if you have not returned to work or you receive PUA. However, you will need to file a new claim for benefits if:
  • Your BYE date is on March 7, 2021 or later and
  • You receive UI and were paid wages during your benefit year that add up to more than 10 times your weekly benefit.
  • The Department of Labor has a FAQ on Benefit Year Ending in English and Spanish.
• Although all unemployment benefits are taxable and considered income for Federal tax returns,
  • you do not need to pay federal taxes on the first $10,200 of unemployment benefits if you earned less than $150,000 as an individual in 2020.
  • you will still have to pay state and city taxes on your benefits because New York State and City measures income separately from the federal government.