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I was able to get PUA in NY. I was turned down at first. If you go to the AirBNB site, you can search your earnings and send them your 2019 earnings. It’s exactly what you should be sending to your accountant every year to file taxes. Mine were significant, showing they were my only income. I had near six figures in income and not anywhere near 200 bookings, so it is true that you need both to be given a 1099. (This was not the case in prior years-- I remember when I first began airbnb’ing and was sent a 1099 for significantly less.)
I used the unemployment until I was able to start booking again, so not the full term.
If you did not report your income (illegal, but technically possible to do when you do not receive a 1099) you will not be eligible for UE. And as someone said above, it’s irrelevant what HI thinks of airbnb. If you get turned down, appeal again.
Thanks so much for your response. Which documents did your friend supply for her Airbnb income? I’m not sure what to give them. Also, most years I reported my Airbnb income as passive income on a schedule E and I typically report a loss because my expenses and depreciation are usually greater than my earnings. I’ve read if that’s the case, you don’t qualify for PUA because there’s no “net” income -which is not exactly true because depreciation is calculated into your losses and is not a true loss so you actually do earn money (just not on paper). Does that makes sense? Since they have asked for my net income I’m assuming if I report losses greater than my earnings they’re not going to provide PUA. I’m not sure what they’re doing though. Do you have contact info for your friend?
That’s my guess, but I’m no expert. I googled and came up with the same answer. It makes sense that passive income/investment income isn’t considered eligible for unemployment.
My issue is that I just started rentals in Hawaii in 2019 and have not yet filled 2019 taxes.
Prior to that, all of my Airbnb income was in Utah but since I don’t have a driver’s license in Utah it seems I can’t apply for PUA in Utah even though I earned almost six figures there through Airbnb.
In 2019 I earned income in both Utah and Hawaii so I’m not sure where I file PUA since my current residency is in Hawaii but most of my earnings were in Utah.
I disagree with that point because some people survive entirely off passive income and when the governor shuts down the state and makes it illegal to rent you should be compensated for that in some way.
Not that I’m disagreeing with you ,I just have a problem with the fact that some people are being foreclosed on because I can’t get assistance and it’s illegal to rent.
That’s not an unemployment issue though. UI has been funded through taxes paid by employers and employees. The CARES act made dramatic changes to the normal expectations. What someone in your situation really needs a different kind of aid the accounts for the situation. CARES used the unemployment systems which already existed to try to get money out quickly. Trying to create a new system or new program from scratch would have taken too long.
I’m not saying people in your situation don’t need help, I’m just saying it always made sense to not permit people filing schedule E to claim unemployment. One advantage to Schedule E is not paying self-employment taxes.
I can’t stress enough how state-dependent this is. This completely depends on how your state is doing things because unemployment is a state program. It varies quite a lot and states are given a lot of wiggle room to interpret federal guidelines.
Not every state is asking for tax returns. In fact many states don’t ask for any uploads of documents at all and when they do there is a great variety of documents that are not tax returns. I’ve seen everything listed from bank statements to “general ledgers” to paystubs and vouchers to 1099s, K-1s, W2s, etc. And many states actually include Schedule E as one of the options to upload as proof of income.
It’s true that Schedule E is usually passive-income, but this is really an IRS and taxation issue. It is not really an unemployment issue. I think some of the confusion is that the PUA is talked about being for the self-employed, but it is really for anyone who earns income that doesn’t qualify for regular unemployment. This includes sole proprietors, part-time workers and even people who weren’t working but who were going to start working but then couldn’t because of Covid.
Hawaii does not mention tax returns whatsoever in their list of documents. However, I did also, as @KKC mentioned, find stuff online saying that Hawaii was not giving PUA to people with passive income. States are free to use their own rules and some states have gone this direction. I’m sorry! ( However, I can’t imagine how your hosting money is passive income. If you are a host, you are actively involved and really should be filing schedule C (but that’s another topic). )
It’s likely that you can file in Utah. Residency does not determine where you apply but amount of earnings and recency of earnings determine it. Lots of people live in one state and work in another. I couldn’t find anything about Utah’s stance on passive-income but this what you need to apply there (pic below). Notice that at the top of the list, it says you only need one of the documents. That is, you don’t need a Utah driver’s license. I think it’s worthwhile to try! Let us know how it works out!
For reference, just to underline how much it varies from state to state. I was only asked what my income was and then I had to note where I got the number. For me, that was “1099”. And that was the end of it. I was never asked for the form. And, embarassingly enough, I have not filed either my 2018 nor my 2019 taxes. I actually sent my 2017 taxes in June. I will file schedule C but they certainly didn’t care or ask what I was going to file.
Although I submitted my tax return, I don’t think I had to.
It was quite confusing at first getting statements saying I wasn’t entitled to anything (but ignore them, they don’t mean anything!) Although I’ve now received some payments I’m still confused as to what I’m entitled to and when I will get it. Apparently in some states people have had quite a time of it trying to get their payments. And now the program is ended with no idea as to when the resolution will be.
