Updates for Employers: Unemployment Insurance Relief, Paid Leave & Standard Occupational Classification Reporting
Unemployment Insurance Relief
Due to legislation passed during the 2022 Legislative Session, the Employment Security Department (ESD) will recalculate unemployment insurance (UI) tax rates for most employers for 2022 and 2023, lowering employers’ UI premiums. As an employer’s UI tax rate is experience rated, meaning that the rate is, in part, determined by the benefits paid to employees, many employers experienced a jump in unemployment insurance premiums resulting from pandemic layoffs. While some UI relief has been provided to employers already, per Senate Bill 5873, the maximum social tax rate will be reduced for 2022 and 2023, and an additional reduction in the social tax factor will be provided for small businesses in 2023.
For most employers, the social cost factor rate will decrease from .75% to .5% for 2022; although, this could vary based on an employer’s individual rate class. For 2023, the flat social cost factor rate, which is the baseline social tax rate for all employers, will be capped at .7% instead of .8%. For small businesses disproportionately impacted by higher unemployment insurance premiums, ESD will implement a social tax factor capped at rate 7, or .65%, for 2023. This will lower the tax rate for small businesses who are in rate class 8 (.76%) or higher. To be considered a small business, an employer must have had 10 or fewer employees as of the fourth quarter of 2021.
Paid Leave Reporting
As employer reporting for the Long-Term Services and Supports Trust (LTSS) program, or WA Cares program, was originally to be completed using the same system as paid leave reporting, ESD had already released new file specifications for employer paid leave reporting. However, as implementation of the LTSS program is now delayed by 18 months, employers can choose to either continue using the same formatting for paid leave reporting as for previous quarters, or begin using the new reporting specifications. Employers that manually report must enter “$0” in the “WA Cares Premiums Withheld” field, while employers that choose to use the new templates for .CSV files or bulk wage files should review the updated .CSV filing instructions, if applicable, and leave fields related to WA Cares blank. Employers that choose to use the old template for reporting can report as normal.
Employers can learn more about paid leave reporting and review how-to webinars on the paid leave web reporting web page.
Standard Occupational Classification Reporting
Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) coding is a federal system that helps government agencies and private businesses compare occupational data. Currently, while employers can opt to include SOC codes when submitting quarterly tax reports, reporting SOC codes is optional. However, as a result of legislation passed in 2020, beginning with employers’ 2022 fourth quarter tax report, SOC code reporting will be mandatory and employers could face a penalty for incorrect or incomplete reporting. There are currently 867 occupation codes, each made up of six numbers. Dentistry codes can be found below:
- Dentists, General; 29-1021
- Dentists, All Other Specialists; 29-1029
- Dental Hygienists; 29-1292
- Dental Assistants; 31-9091
- Dental Laboratory Technicians; 51-9081
The SOC code information will provide more accurate occupational employment and wage statistics and will be useful in several ways, including job training program planning, evaluation of the effectiveness of the training programs, determining the composition of employment in communities, among other uses. ESD has compiled resources to assist employers in complying with this new requirement, including a short instructional video and a link to an SOC code search tool. Any questions on SOC codes or how to use them in quarterly tax reports can be directed to socreporting@esd.wa.gov.
