Weekly Benefit Rate

Calculating the Weekly Benefit Rate

Your Weekly Benefit Rate is the amount you can receive if you are eligible for benefits for a week and your benefits are not reduced for any reason.

Your Weekly Benefit Rate is calculated based on the wages you were paid in your base year. You must determine the total gross wages received during your base-year period and how much you received during each calendar quarter in the base year. Be careful to use gross wages - not take-home pay - and assign your wages to the quarters in which you were paid. The quarter in which you were paid the most money is known as your High Quarter. The High Quarter determines your Weekly Benefit Rate.

However, it is not the only determining factor. You must also have sufficient qualifying wages or total wages in the base year. In other words, all your wages cannot have been earned in one quarter. The amount of qualifying wages needed is determined by the amount of wages in the High Quarter. For instance, if your High Quarter was $1688, you must have at least $2,718 total qualifying wages in the base year. If your High Quarter was $7,500, you must have at least $11,924 total qualifying wages in the base year to qualify for the corresponding (weekly) rate (of compensation) of $295. To be eligible, at least 37 percent of the total qualifying wage (as in Part C of the Rate and Amount of Benefits Chart) must have been paid in one or more quarters other than in your High Quarter.

Benefit Year Ending (BYE) Date

Individuals receiving benefits through the Unemployment Compensation (UC) program may need to re-file their claim at the end of their benefit year (BYE date), which falls exactly one year after they initially applied for UC benefits.

The “BYE date” is the date when an individual’s unemployment compensation (UC) claim ends — after a claim’s BYE date passes, you cannot collect any additional benefits on that claim.

New claim applications will be the same as when you filed the previous year. Internally, when our UC team receives the application, they will review it to see if you are eligible for a new UC claim. Depending on the individual’s circumstances, our staff may take time to research, so individuals should anticipate a potential delay in their weekly benefits when their benefit year ends.

For many individuals, there will be no delay in benefits. L&I has been preparing for the surge in benefit-years ending and is doing everything possible to keep these delays to a minimum. Note: The benefit year begins on Sundays and ends on Saturdays.

More information about BYE

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Full-Time Weekly Wage

Your Weekly Benefit Rate should equal about one-half of your full-time weekly wage. If the weekly benefit rate shown on your Notice of Financial Determination is not one-half of your gross full-time weekly wage, and your rate is not the highest benefit rate on the Rate and Amount of UC Benefits chart, you may qualify for a higher weekly benefit rate. If you want your weekly benefit rate to be calculated based on your full-time weekly wage, you must file a timely appeal to the Notice of Financial Determination and request a redetermination from the UC Service Center.

Allowance for Dependents

If you are eligible for benefits, you may receive an additional $5 weekly for a dependent spouse plus $3 weekly for one dependent child. If you have no dependent spouse, you can receive $5 weekly for one dependent child, plus $3 weekly for a second dependent child. In either case, the allowance for dependents cannot exceed $8 per week.

To receive an allowance for a dependent(s), you must have been wholly or chiefly supporting your dependent(s) at the time of your application for benefits. A "dependent spouse" is your lawful husband or wife living in your household. A "dependent child" is your unmarried child, stepchild or adopted child who is under 18 years of age. A dependent child is also any unmarried child 18 years of age or older, who cannot work because of a disability.

A person's "dependent" status for UC purposes is not determined by the person's status for tax purposes, or whether the person is attending school.

Note: If both spouses file claims with overlapping benefit years, one spouse may not claim the same child or children as the other spouse. However, each spouse may claim up to two different children.

If you qualify, you will receive an allowance for dependent(s) for each week that you receive UC benefits, whether your regular benefits are full or partial amounts. However, you can receive an allowance for dependents only for the number of weeks corresponding to your maximum benefit amount (i.e., between 18 and 26 weeks).

The information provided on this site does not constitute a determination of eligibility to receive unemployment compensation.

Direct Deposit of UC Benefits

If you have a checking or savings account, you can have your Unemployment Compensation (UC) benefits electronically deposited into your account as long as your bank, credit union, savings, and loan, etc., is able to receive direct deposits.

DIRECT DEPOSIT:

FAST - You will have your benefits directly deposited into your bank account right away.
CONVENIENT - You don’t have to take time to go to your financial institution or find a specific ATM each time you receive a benefit payment.
SAFE & RELIABLE - Benefits are directly deposited into your already existing bank account, without the need for another card in your wallet.
SIMPLE - It’s easy to begin and can be changed or stopped if necessary.

To complete a direct deposit request, you will need to have:

The name and address of your financial institution
Your account number
Your routing number
Financial institution phone number

If you have questions on completing this form or want to know about your options regarding payment methods, call the Pennsylvania Treasury Department’s Bureau of Unemployment Compensation Disbursements at 877-869-1956 (toll-free). To better ensure the accurate processing of your application, you should contact your financial institution to verify the routing number and account number used for direct deposit transactions.

To start, change, or stop direct deposit, you will need to access your UC dashboard.

Alternatively, you may download and print form UC-310 Authorization For Direct Deposit of UC Benefits. Be sure to carefully follow all instructions on the printed form, including the instructions for returning the form for processing.

IMPORTANT:

Was your account closed or did your account information change? Use the link to stop direct deposit as soon as possible so that payments are not forwarded to an old or incorrect account or delayed.
If you do not have a direct deposit account, you will be issued a debit card to access your benefits, but you may switch to direct deposit.
Once direct deposit begins, payments will be directly deposited to the account you provided for the duration of your claim and generally, from claim to claim until you change your direct deposit.

*Beware of fraudulent unemployment websites. Always ensure you are on our site when filing for benefits, changing your personal info, or signing up for a direct deposit. We will never ask you to pay for UC services or ask you for your credit information.

For detailed information on Direct Deposit, please see our Direct Deposit FAQs.

Taxes on Benefits

All benefits are considered gross income for federal income tax purposes.
This includes benefits paid under these programs:

Unemployment Compensation (UC)
Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC)
Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA)
Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA)
Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC)
Lost Wage Assistance (LWA)

The department reports these benefits to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for the calendar year in which the benefits were paid.

These benefits are not taxable by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and local governments.

You may choose to have federal income tax withheld from your benefit payments at the rate of 10 percent of your weekly benefit rate plus the allowance for dependents (if any). Please note: The 10 percent deduction is based on your net amount payable (i.e., the amount of benefits payable before deductions for earnings, benefit reduction, child support, and bankruptcy intercept, and so forth).

To change your federal withholding status and access your UC-1099G, please visit your UC dashboard and click on "Unemployment Services."

You may choose to have federal income tax withheld from your PUA benefit payments at the rate of 10 percent. The amount of withholding is calculated using the payment amount, after being adjusted for earnings (in any). Click here to access your PUA dashboard and change your federal withholding status or access your PUA-1099G.

Duration of Payments

How long can I receive benefits?

If you are eligible for UC, you may receive benefits until you have been paid the maximum benefit amount (MBA) allowed on your claim or until your benefit year has expired.

Your benefit year expires one year (52 weeks) after your application for benefits (AB) date.
Your MBA is your weekly benefit rate (WBR) multiplied by the number of credit weeks in your base year. However, you must have at least 18 credit weeks to qualify for benefits, and your MBA may not exceed 26 times your WBR. Your Notice of Financial Determination will indicate the MBA for which you are eligible ranging from 18 to 26 times your WBR.

Example:

Weekly Benefit Rate	Credit Weeks	Maximum Benefits Allowed (MBA)
$300	18	$5,400
$300	19	$5,700
$300	20	$6,000
$300	21	$6,300
$300	22	$6,600
$300	23	$6,900
$300	24	$7,200
$300	25	$7,500
$300	26	$7,800