Help Wanted: Job or jobless benefits at 77?

My unemployment benefits would have been $405 a week, based on earnings from the hospital job. In December, when my current employer had a big layoff, I really wanted to be let go so I could collect unemployment benefits. But I wasn't. If I resign, could I qualify for benefits? I would still seek employment because, even though I am 77 years old, I am computer-literate. -- Benefits Quandary

"An employee who resigns from employment without good cause is ineligible for unemployment insurance benefits," said attorney Ellen Storch of Kaufman Dolowich Voluck & Gonzo in Woodbury.

Sometimes when employees lose their primary jobs, they can qualify for partial unemployment benefits, even if they continue to work a part-time job, Storch said.

But you didn't qualify because you work five days a week. Even though you make less than the weekly unemployment-benefit maximum of $405 -- also a requirement for eligibility -- each day or part of a day you worked would have reduced that benefit by a quarter. So you would have received nothing.

"The income looks like it would be considered self-employment income. Self-employed individuals generally are required to file an annual return and pay estimated tax quarterly. Self-employed individuals generally must pay self-employment tax . . . as well as income tax. [Self-employment] tax is a Social Security and Medicare tax primarily for individuals who work for themselves. It is similar to the Social Security and Medicare taxes withheld from the pay of most wage earners. In general, anytime the wording 'self-employment tax' is used, it only refers to Social Security and Medicare taxes and not any other tax [such as] income tax . . . "

She's subject to those taxes if her net earnings total at least $400 a year, the IRS said. If her annual net earnings from that job ever fall below $400, she would still have to to file an income tax return if she met other filing requirements on the 1040 form, according to the IRS.

Here's what the state said:

"As a New York resident, your reader is subject to New York tax on her income and is required to file a return and pay income taxes to New York State. New Jersey's Tax Department would have to explain their rules. Generally, states have residency requirements for income taxes to be applicable."