Applying for California UI benefits as an LLC co-owner... (apply, claim, qualify) - Unemployment -benefits, rate, legislation, insurance, jobless, extension, jobs, employers, employees, hiring, resumes, occupations, government, laws, unions, contracts, workers - City-Data Forum

thepinksquid · 10-15-2010, 12:00 PM

My place of work is closing for 3 weeks in December due to massive renovations that are taking place. Apparently during this time all employees that are "temporarily laid off" will be eligible for job-attached unemployment.

My question is (and I'm not finding anything online about this), along with this full-time job, I am a co-owner of an LLC that is my husband's business and source of income. I, personally, do not take a salary from this business.

Has anyone here every tried to apply for UI benefits while also owning a business? Would I have to claim our business' profits (although it's my husbands' income) on my application? If I don't qualify for the benefits, that's okay (I'd very much like to, however)--it's only 3 weeks and I know I have a job after this is over, but I'm just thinking ahead of time...

Thanks!

PS--I live in Calfornia.

nctecchie · 10-20-2010, 09:40 AM

You may not know the answer until you actually apply -

How do you handle the LLC income - do you do payroll and take out federal taxes for your husband or does it all pass thru as self employment income on your taxes? If you do payroll for your husband, then you do not need to report it otherwise, you would report your share of the self employment income based on the percentage ownership of the LLC.

Its just one the peculiarities of LLC's - since they are a pass thru entity, income that remains after expenses (such as payroll) for a given year is taxed as self employment income - and your tax share of that would be based on your ownership percentage. Unfortunately it does not matter for filing joint taxes but this has an impact on UI benefits.

Good luck!

thepinksquid · 10-21-2010, 09:05 PM

Yeah, we just use the LLC as a pass through for our (well, his) self-employment income on our taxes. We've never explicitly defined our ownership percentages so I think it's just considered 50/50. I'm not horribly worried--my time without pay is just 3 weeks--we can manage.

Thanks for your input!!