You are absolutely correct seasonal self employed persons do not qualify for unemployment in California or most other states. That is why the federal government as part of the CARES legislation recently passed created an new program specifically covering  business owners,self employed individuals and independent contractors. The state of California has called their version of this program the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program. This program has not been initiated as of yet and is due to start accepting applications through the EDD web site on Tuesday, April 28, 2020. The benefits described are as follows:

Phase 1

$167.00 per week for each week you qualify from February 2, to March 28, 2020 due to COVID-19 reasons.

Phase 2

$167.00 plus $600.00 per week for each week you qualify from March 29,2020 to July 25, 2020, due to COVID-19 reasons. The $600.00 is federal CARES money.

Phase 3

$167.00 plus $600.00 per week for each week you qualify from  July 26, 2020 to December 26, 2020 due to COVID-19 reasons.

Since the program has not been rolled out yet all of the fine print is speculative subject to the final guidelines being published and the application process initiated. 

If you go to: www. edd.ca.gov/about_edd/coronavirus-2019/pandemic-unemployment-assistance or just search the edd web site for PUA you should be able to get all the qualifying parameters and description of the program available at this time. 

This is exactly why I asked my original question because most tax preparers are seasonal as well as independent contractors or self employed and have traditionally not qualified for unemployment. This is a brave new world we all seem to find ourselves in and its important to stay informed both from a business prospective as well as a health prospective. 

Good luck, God bless be safe.