The Oregon Employment Department has discovered errors on about 12,000 of the 1099-G tax forms it sent out — affecting about 5% of the people who got jobless benefits in 2024.
To see if you’re one of the people affected by the error, you can check your account using the state’s Francis Online benefits system. You can find corrected tax forms there if you were affected. The state also started sending corrected tax forms by mail this week.
Lindsi Leahy, director of the department’s unemployment insurance division, said Thursday that the state switched from an old computer system to a newer online system a year ago, and that seems to be the source of the error.
“We apologize for the errors, and we know this will be inconvenient for customers who are impacted,” she said. “We are committed to providing people with accurate information as quickly as possible, and we will follow-up with customers who are issued an updated 1099-G with more specific information about their individual situation.”
Leahy also said people can check online for updates about the tax forms.
The Oregon Employment Division has struggled with technology challenges for a number of years now. Its old jobless claims system, dated to the 1990s, was unable to handle fast-changing updates to unemployment policies that were implemented early in the COVID-19 pandemic. Many Oregonians waited weeks or months to begin receiving benefits as claims soared in 2020.
When the $106 million Frances Online system was fully rolled out in March 2024, some claimants said they still had problems with their online benefits.
Francis Online was updated this week to address the cause of the tax form error, Leahy 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 legacy systems,” she said.
