Question regarding self-employed workers and unemployment

Factual Questions
1

With unemployment being expanded for gig, contract and self-employed workers, I’m having a hard time finding info on qualifications.

I’m self-employed, I run a sole proprietorship lawn company. I’m the only employee. I don’t receive a regular “paycheck” per se. We typically write ourselves a check from the business to our personal account when we need funds. This is what our accountant has advised us to do, and it’s worked out. I live in Michigan.

The work that I do isn’t directly tied to the money I’m paid. For instance, we receive an influx of money at the end of each calendar year from customers pre-paying for the next season. They receive a nice discount, we receive money to get us through the winter. Then the money we bring in in the spring from new customers is what we use to pay me through October.

So now that lawn companies are allowed to work again in Michigan, I’ll be spraying those lawns that we already received payment for last calendar year. So technically, I’m working, even though I paid myself from that money already. But our new sales are down 40% over the same period last year. So we have less money coming in to the business, and will potentially have significantly less coming in this year (but really, who knows?). We’ve also had some people who had pre-paid ask for refunds as they’ve his financial troubles.

So anyway, all that said, how do I know if I qualify to take the unemployment + the PUA that’s being offered? 1. I’m now technically “working.” 2. But I’m not being payed anything right now, as our new sales have gone down to a trickle. 3. We have no idea how many customers we’ll ultimately have this year. I would hate to take the money but then have to pay money back and potentially owe fines for fraud, but I would also hate not to take it and screw my family financially if things really take a turn this year. Not having a regular paycheck makes it difficult to show whether I’m working or not, or qualify for unemployment.

(I will be talking to my accountant about this as well, but thought I’d put it out here for anyone that might have some insight.)

2

TL;DR: If you’re self-employed and working but not getting paid because you pay yourself based on the previous six months’ sales, how do you know if you qualify for unemployment?

3

I would talk to your accountant. The principal at my firm has been absolutely deluged with clients trying to navigate the system such that I’ve had to handle a lot of the work during tax season (which I guess it sorta still is, though it’s slowed down) he would have normally done himself. Your accountant has a vested interest in making sure your business remains afloat and they are used to working with the government bureaucracy.

4

Talked to my accountant today, and thought I’d come back to mention what he said, as a baseline for any other self-employed individuals wondering how to navigate the UI sytem.

First, I’m in Michigan, if that makes a difference for anyone reading.

Second, the first thing he told me is that this is a totally unprecedented situation we’re in. No one is really all that sure how this really works for self-employed individuals who are claiming unemployment. How hard is the state gonna check? What are the criteria for applying? What are the criteria for continued certification? He says no one’s really sure. He said be prepared to explain yourself and justify your application/certification if the state comes back and asks questions. That being said…

His advice for me was to take my total expenses from last year’s tax returns, divide by 52 and use that as X. Subtract X from any amount of money that we bring in on a given week. Report the difference to the UIA when I go to do my bi-weekly certification. If I net zero dollars or a negative number for the week, then I’ll likely get the full amount of unemployment I’ve qualified for. I may get a reduced amount, or nothing at all depending on what our business nets on any given week.

This seems reasonable to me. I feel like it’ll help keep us afloat if business slows, but if we keep getting new customers, I’ll gladly drop off the unemployment rolls.