Are Unemployment Benefits Taxable?

Your unemployment insurance benefits are taxable. Any unemployment benefits you receive must be reported as part of your gross income on your federal and state income tax returns.

If you wish, you may choose to have federal and/or state taxes withheld from your unemployment benefit payments as you receive them. You may request to have federal and/or state taxes withheld from your weekly benefit check and forwarded by DET to the IRS and the DOR automatically. The federal tax withheld is currently 10 percent of your weekly benefit payment rate. The state tax withheld is currently 5.3 percent.

In order to have taxes withheld from your UI benefit payment, you must complete an Income Tax Withholding Request Form (Form W­4V­MA) .