I'am leaving the military soon, do I file unemployment through the state I've been paying taxes to (Wash DC) or the state I'm currently in (TN)?

Are you sure that you’re entitled to beneifts? There are many special issues with milittary employment, as it’s not the standard type contemplated by unemployment insurance.

I’ll say this: the state will generally have good clear resources online to get you started, and resources to contract through the state labor department.

However, I think that your real source is going to be throught the military itself. Military.com has good infromation on seeking benefits through some Veteran otganizations here.

So you’ll have to look at the DC and Tennessee labor departmenst besides them, as the laws vary state to state. I’lll re-emphasize that there have been some issues with veteran benefits becasue often the state requires that to get benefits yuou be employed in that state for a number of years.

Let me know if you need clarification.

Wherever you are residence too. (Most current residence of past year) I’d look up the state residency requirements. Each state has a diff time stamp of how long it takes to become a resident.

Check with the employment commission in the state where you are listed as a legal resident. That would most likely be where you’ve been paying your state taxes. If you want to register in Tennessee, you may have to wait awhile, depending upon their residency reuirements.

When my husband got out of Active Duty, he had to file for unemployment in his “home of record”. This was just back in May of this year. If you have any questions, call the umemployment office in each area to see what they say.

@Moegitto Washington, D.C. is not a state. It’s a good question because military can maintain certain things in one state while living in another. Things like voter registration, vehicle license plates, drivers license, and more. But, you are getting out of the service, so you are going to have to soon be a resident and do all those details in the state you actually reside in. I really think you need to talk to someone in the military who would know, your commanding officer might know who to speak to, and/or the state directly.

@CaptainHarley TN does not have state income tax. It does tax people who earn high dividends and interest, but the average person does not file or owe state tax.

You would file in Tennessee.

@Moegitto When I got out I filed unemployment in the state I moved to. I would file in the state you are in. However, if that’s not right… they will be sure to correct you.

That’s a good one, I never had the experience. I had a job before I got out and stayed in the Reserves, in case I didn’t like being a civilian. My motto is “Never burn Bridges”.

@JLeslie Washington DC is considered a state. I filed Unemployment there before. I also pay DC state taxes, which I might add is alot, about $130 a check.

@iamthemob Military members that serve more than 365 days and are released on any Honorable Discharge are entitled to unemployment, service members still pay taxes into their unemployment fund, which comes from social security.

I called TN, but the guy just said he needed to set up an appointment with me. He was one of the 3 Veteran assistance guys we have to go to. He kinda sounded like he didn’t know anything. The one thing I did find out is that it doesn’t matter which career center you go to now. Now I’m wondering if they’ll be uptight about my night classes.

@Moegitto There are taxes paid in DC, but not state taxes. You know those 50 stars on the flag that represent our 50 states? DC is not one of them. DC is a city and a district. Sure you can collect unemployment in DC and get DC license plates and a driver’s license, etc. I am just trying to give you the correct terminology.

No, those are state taxes. Trust me. I’m a resident, if it was anything else it wouldn’t say “State taxes” on everything. Not being a smart-alec but that’s one thing I know for sure. You have to be a resident to actually understand how backwards that place is. The only thing that keeps DC from being a state is lack or Representation or “a Representative”.

http://www.bankrate.com/finance/taxes/state-taxes-washington-d-c.aspx

It is Washington, DC, income taxes they are referring to, @JLeslie. They are absolutely correct. @Moegitto, call the unemployment compensation offices in both DC and Tennessee. Talk to them and see where you will receive the greater benefit before filing.

@Moegitto I don’t doubt that it is filed under state taxes for efile and things like that. But DC is not a state. Either is Guam or Puerto Rico. Not that DC is exactly like Guam or Puerto Rico. I grew up in MD, hell I was born at Walter Reed hospital. If the form says state taxes that is fucked up. I believe you, it isn’t that I don’t believe you. Dumber things have been written down on legal documents. If you have seen it with your own eyes who am I to question it.

@bkcunningham I am not saying there are no income taxes in DC. DC is not technically a state. Oy. Forget it. I thought if anyone would understand you would. You seem up on government, history, and our country in general.

I don’t see state anywhere on this form.

@JLeslie Yup, state taxes, I file them every year. I wasn’t trying to be mean, my Keyboard is kinda jacking up on me :( But I do get it alot about DC taxes. Also. my birth certificate says State: DC. Just to let you know, when we do paper work, our city is Washington and state is DC.

My birth certificate probably does also, I have no idea where my husband has it filed to pull it out, but it is because the form says state, not because DC is a state.

I understand you use DC as the postal code where state is usually filled in. It still is not a state, it is just an exception to conform to the standards of, well, forms.

Did you look at my link? The form doesn’t say the state of DC.

Anyway, I don’t mean to argue on your Q about unemployment. I wish you well in your new transition out of the military. :)

I was wrong about filing in either DC or Tenn. I found a report from Cornell University about UEC for military members and it said you file in the state where you will be actively seeking employment.

I do understand that the District of Columbia isn’t a state, @JLeslie. But even the DC Office of Tax and Revenue’s form D-40 for individuals says “Federal/State” for DC tax filers. Go figure.

@bkcunningham Yes, I said that. The filing status just gets lumped in with states. It’s a form thing. @Moegitto is right, it is just a screwy exception that doesn’t really make sense, but does.

This is best solved with a few phone calls to people who know the actual answer and are not searching Google.

I have never heard of unemployment benefits for military. Military is considered a job as far as I know. You could be eligible for food stamps or such.

@YARNLADY when I was in the Navy, some of the guys in my division qualified and got food stamps. That is a disgrace, in my opinion. We pay these people to work long hours in dangerous conditions yet some of the lower ranking people (that usually get the worst jobs), still qualify for food stamps.

As to unemployment, I never knew of a person that left the military without a job, of course, that was a different time before our congress sent all the jobs overseas.

@Ron_C From what I understand many people who have left the military are unemployed. What I don’t understand is why they would qualify for unemployment? Unless they were discharged before their contract maybe?

@JLeslie you may be right.

@JLeslie It’s my understanding that a military service member is eligible for unemployment benefits after they have been discharged (as long as it’s honorable). Some service members are unable to re-enlist once their contract is up and others don’t want to re-enlist. From my understanding, the unemployment for service members is different from the normal state unemployment compensation and that’s why service members are eligible for this even when they decided not to re-enlist. It’s actually run by the federal government and it’s called the Unemployment Compensation for Ex-service Members (UCX). Even though it’s run by the federal government, it’s still handled locally at the state unemployment offices. It is meant to help the service members with the transition from the active duty work force to the civilian work force, especially when there are many military careers that don’t necessarily transfer over well in the civilian side of things.

@JLeslie Your qualified because your covered by Federal. That’s why you have to leave with certain conditions to get it. People like me that fulfill their contract (9 years) honorably can claim unemployment because technically we’re being fired. But there are some people (like people leaving for medical reasons) that can’t get it because of a whole bunch of red tape that I know only a fraction of. I can only go by what I know, and I got out the first time (2005) and filed and recieved unemployment, even though I only used it for 2 months. That much I know, when people say that service members aren’t GUARANTEED unemployment they are technically right, because there’s so many ways to leave that it’s mind boggling. But like I said, I can only speak on my experience. All states have some minor differences on how they handle it, some states let soldiers go to school and defer from having to look for a job while using unemployment, but some states allow you to file for them even though you aren’t a resident if your leaving the military ( Massachusetts is one that WILL NOT allow this though).

PS: My keyboard is REALLY getting to me :(

@Seaofclouds I see. I am all in favor of helping them transition.

It will probably be the state that is listed as your home of record, regardless of where you served or where you move after you get your DD-214.

A little hint so you avoid the same issue I had: make sure that Uncle Sam reports your military wages. I got laid off from a temp-job the year I got out and found out that, officially, I had zero income for the first half of the year. That also made it impossible for me to file taxes for that year until two years later! So don’t assume that they are doing their job correctly; make sure they are.

@jerv I kinda got lucky with the whole ETS in November after the military tax cycle year. I actually just got off the phone with finance earlier about getting my W2 and they said that Mypay wont give me one when I get out, they have to mail me one. That didn’t happen when I got out in 2005, Mypay kept my stuff up for some extra time, but that’s one reason why I got out. I couldn’t do another 11 years, the system changed so much that it hurts now.