Owner of a business and collecting unemployment

Good Afternoon,

Would it be considered fraud if a customer owns a business (and is making money) but is collecting unemployment benefits? It just seems wrong. If it is considered fraud should Bank's be filing SARs on these customers?

FinCEN Advisory on Unemployment Fraud

Misrepresentation of income fraud: an individual returns to work and fails to report the income in order to continue receiving UI payments, or in an effort to receive higher UI payments, an applicant claims higher wages than he/she previously earned;

If it's fraud and it meets the filing threshold, you are required to file a SAR.

Last I checked, FinCEN has asked that these be reported if related to the different programs created to assist during the COVID pandemic. I would report it even if less than threshold that requires you to file.

One caveat to consider - do you know if the business owner is still receiving a salary? My brother has a business and received unemployment, but he and his partners stopped getting a salary during the pandemic.

If you know that he (or she) is receiving a salary, then I agree with filing.

There is guidance as to 1099 contractors who are collecting unemployment and still running their businesses. We have filed SARs on those.

For W2 employees, I believe you can collect unemployment while still being employed if your business has seen a downturn such that your wages have gone down. If you have a business owner you should be able to see if they are still paying themselves the same amount as they were before the pandemic. If they are collecting a smaller amount per week and also paying themself less then maybe not so suspicious. If the amounts (wages or unemployment) are unreasonably high then maybe a SAR is warranted. The business owner has paid unemployment insurance premiums in the past on their reported W2 wages and thus isn't necessarily excluded from collecting.