Can you file unemployment if your employer pays you in cash?

I doubt it. If he was paid cash then it probably was never reported to the irs from his company.

If you worked in his home, odds are you should have been paid on a W-2, not a 1099. If that's the case, you could file a form SS-8 with the IRS and if they agree you were really an employee, you might eventually get it although it would be a long process and you might not. If you win, the estate would have back taxes to pay, and they'd have to pay into unemployment for you, which they haven't so far. You did file a tax return each of those years and pay tax on it, didn't you? If not, forget about the unemployment, you illegally evaded taxes for 5 years.

The best thing to do is file a claim. His employment with the company may not have been "covered" (i.e. w-2, tax paying entity) but he may be eligible if he had other employment prior to that, if that other employment falls withing his benefit year. A benefit year, in most states, runs the first four of that last five quarters. Even though on the surface it does not appear that he would qualify due to his lack of covered employment, the state agency could initiate a wage investigation on your husbands behalf to let you know for sure. He most likely will not qualify but the best thing to do is file a claim. There is no penalty to file. All they can tell you is what you assume you already know: denied.

Paying in cash wasn't the issue, and doesn't make you ineligible for unemployment. But often when an employer pays in cash they aren't taking out taxes or paying employer taxes - in that case he wouldn't be eligible.

Did he get any tax paperwork at the end of last year? If he got a W-2, he's most likely eligible. If he got a 1099, he isn't. If he got no paperwork and didn't file a tax return, he isn't eligible.

if he never filled out a W-4 and never got paystubs showing hrs, earnings, taxes and deductions, chances are the company never filed unemployment txaes or paid into the unemploykent system for any employees either, so your Husb will not even be in the unemployment system and won't get UC benefits and he will have to pay taxes out of that 6500 when the company sends him a 1099 - he never should have taken a job like that

How you are paid is not relevant. As long as your wages were reported to your state unemployment department, he can draw benefits. If they weren't they may determine that he did have covered wages and jump all over his employer.

it really sounds like the employer paid him as an independent contractor, and never withheld taxes

no, the employer probably did not report his earnings in the quarterly employee reports and as such there is no record of your husband's earnings which is what the unemployment is based on

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Did you husband receive a W-2 last year?

How did your husband report this income on his tax return?

i was paid cash for three months in 2014, jan, feb, + march. earned $5,800. Will i qualify for unemployment

benefits?