12K+ Oregon taxpayers impacted by Employment Department tax form error

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – If you’re an unemployed Oregonian who has received a tax form from the Oregon Employment Department, you may want to double-check that it doesn’t have an error.

The OED announced that at least 5% of the forms distributed in January for the 2024 tax year need to be updated — impacting at least 12,000 taxpayers in the state.

“We are very sorry for the inconvenience this caused some people,” OED director David Gerstenfeld said. “The Employment Department is committed to providing people with accurate information as quickly as possible, which is why our employees are working hard to follow up with each impacted person with more specific information about their situation.” 

The 1099-G tax form shows how much the OED paid out to those who used unemployment benefits in 2024. However, the use of a new system threw off how these totals are determined.

Before 2024, the OED relied upon a legacy system to pay Oregon’s unemployment insurance program. The department then switched to its new system, Francis Online, in March 2024. 

Department officials said the form sent in January did not include both systems.

“This is the first time that 1099-G tax forms were created for the Unemployment Insurance program using Frances Online,” OED said. “This is the only time that the new system will have to issue 1099-G forms covering payments made from both the new, and the legacy, systems.”

OED fixed the error on Monday and created new forms. Those who need a corrected form were contacted via automated message on Francis Online.

This follows months of complaints from those on unemployment who claim to have experienced prolonged hold times since the website’s launch.

It also follows Wednesday’s announcement that Oregon’s unemployment rate has reached 4.5% — its highest since 2021 and .4% higher than the national average.

Stay with KOIN 6 News as we continue to follow this story.