diff --git a/model/event_data_filter.go b/model/event_data_filter.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5193a4d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/model/event_data_filter.go
@@ -0,0 +1,54 @@
+// Copyright 2022 The Serverless Workflow Specification Authors
+//
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+// You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+//      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+// limitations under the License.
+
+package model
+
+import (
+	"bytes"
+	"encoding/json"
+	"fmt"
+)
+
+// EventDataFilter used to filter consumed event payloads.
+type EventDataFilter struct {
+	// UseData represent where event payload is added/merged to state data. If it's false, data & toStateData should be ignored.
+	// Defaults to true.
+	UseData bool `json:"useData,omitempty"`
+
+	// Workflow expression that filters of the event data (payload)
+	Data string `json:"data,omitempty"`
+	// Workflow expression that selects a state data element to which the event payload should be added/merged into. If not specified, denotes, the top-level state data element.
+	ToStateData string `json:"toStateData,omitempty"`
+}
+
+type eventDataFilterForUnmarshal EventDataFilter
+
+func (f *EventDataFilter) UnmarshalJSON(data []byte) error {
+	data = bytes.TrimSpace(data)
+	if len(data) == 0 {
+		return fmt.Errorf("no bytes to unmarshal")
+	}
+
+	v := eventDataFilterForUnmarshal{
+		UseData: true,
+	}
+	err := json.Unmarshal(data, &v)
+	if err != nil {
+		// TODO: replace the error message with correct type's name
+		return err
+	}
+
+	*f = EventDataFilter(v)
+	return nil
+}
diff --git a/model/event_data_filter_test.go b/model/event_data_filter_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1d267ec
--- /dev/null
+++ b/model/event_data_filter_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,81 @@
+// Copyright 2022 The Serverless Workflow Specification Authors
+//
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+// You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+//      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+// limitations under the License.
+
+package model
+
+import (
+	"encoding/json"
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
+)
+
+func TestEventDataFilterUnmarshalJSON(t *testing.T) {
+	type testCase struct {
+		desp   string
+		data   string
+		expect EventDataFilter
+		err    string
+	}
+	testCases := []testCase{
+		{
+			desp: "normal test",
+			data: `{"data": "1", "toStateData": "2"}`,
+			expect: EventDataFilter{
+				UseData:     true,
+				Data:        "1",
+				ToStateData: "2",
+			},
+			err: ``,
+		},
+		{
+			desp: "add UseData to false",
+			data: `{"UseData": false, "data": "1", "toStateData": "2"}`,
+			expect: EventDataFilter{
+				UseData:     false,
+				Data:        "1",
+				ToStateData: "2",
+			},
+			err: ``,
+		},
+		{
+			desp:   "empty data",
+			data:   ` `,
+			expect: EventDataFilter{},
+			err:    `unexpected end of JSON input`,
+		},
+		{
+			desp:   "invalid json format",
+			data:   `{"data": 1, "toStateData": "2"}`,
+			expect: EventDataFilter{},
+			err:    `json: cannot unmarshal number into Go struct field eventDataFilterForUnmarshal.data of type string`,
+		},
+	}
+
+	for _, tc := range testCases {
+		t.Run(tc.desp, func(t *testing.T) {
+			var v EventDataFilter
+			err := json.Unmarshal([]byte(tc.data), &v)
+
+			if tc.err != "" {
+				assert.Error(t, err)
+				assert.Regexp(t, tc.err, err)
+				return
+			}
+
+			assert.NoError(t, err)
+			assert.Equal(t, tc.expect, v)
+		})
+	}
+}
diff --git a/model/workflow.go b/model/workflow.go
index 0a97f86..f6cf70f 100644
--- a/model/workflow.go
+++ b/model/workflow.go
@@ -560,14 +560,6 @@ type StateDataFilter struct {
 	Output string `json:"output,omitempty"`
 }
 
-// EventDataFilter ...
-type EventDataFilter struct {
-	// Workflow expression that filters of the event data (payload)
-	Data string `json:"data,omitempty"`
-	// Workflow expression that selects a state data element to which the event payload should be added/merged into. If not specified, denotes, the top-level state data element.
-	ToStateData string `json:"toStateData,omitempty"`
-}
-
 // Branch Definition
 type Branch struct {
 	// Branch name
diff --git a/parser/testdata/workflows/eventbasedgreeting.sw.json b/parser/testdata/workflows/eventbasedgreeting.sw.json
index e0d66a6..a5cff3e 100644
--- a/parser/testdata/workflows/eventbasedgreeting.sw.json
+++ b/parser/testdata/workflows/eventbasedgreeting.sw.json
@@ -30,7 +30,8 @@
             "GreetingEvent"
           ],
           "eventDataFilter": {
-            "data": "${ .data | .greet }"
+            "data": "${ .data | .greet }",
+            "useData": false
           },
           "actions": [
             {