It’s tax season and one of your employees comes to you asking why they have received a UC 1099 – G. It’s not the usual form you see and when you look at it you see it’s a Statement for Recipients of PA Unemployment Compensation Payments. The employee explains that they have been working during the entire 2021 year. So why are they receiving this form?
While you may not be a tax preparer, you may be able to assist the employee by helping them to remember any jobs they worked in the 2021 tax year. Several questions will help them:
- Did the employee receive any unemployment benefits during 2021? If they are unable to recall, here are some other questions to ask:
- Did the employee have a reduction in the hours that they would normally work? If the employee answers yes, there is a chance that they received benefits as a result of them filing for these benefits. If the employee says no, proceed to the following:
- Did the employee have other employment in addition to their current job at the authority? If the answer is yes, they may have experienced a reduction in hours there or lost the job altogether. This scenario could render them eligible for unemployment benefits.
They can be referred to the following link for the Labor and Industry website:
If none of the above scenarios fit with the employee’s employment status, the last consideration is that there has been a fraudulent claim filed against the PA Department of Labor and Industry using the employee’s social security number and personal information. This last scenario is a very likely explanation.
If the employee feels that this form is the result of a fraudulent claim, there are a number of sources that you can refer them to. The employee most likely wants to complete their taxes expeditiously and you can provide for them a link to the IRS website that addresses this issue:
https://www.irs.gov/identity-theft-fraud-scams/identity-theft-and-unemployment-benefits
Additionally, the employee will want to address the fraudulent claim issue by contacting the three credit reporting agencies, Equifax, Experian and Transunion, to verify that their credit is intact. These companies offer credit monitoring either free of charge or for a small fee. It will be important for the employee to also contact their bank in order to verify that all accounts are in order.
Last, but equally important, they should contact the PA Department of Labor and Industry (L&I) to report the fraudulent claim. L&I has a department dedicated to this issue.
The link to report a fraudulent unemployment claim and form 1099 – G is:
https://www.uc.pa.gov/Pages/Report-Fraud-Here.aspx
U•COMP members learn about the above and more. If your authority is interested in a non-binding U•COMP quote, please contact:
Debbie Gross, U•COMP Member Service Representative
Email: dgross@pml.org Phone: 1-800-922-8063 ext *254