Unemployment Insurance Rates and Due Dates

This article first appeared on the Thomson Reuters blog.

This month, let’s discuss unemployment rates. Most states set unemployment rates using individual company fund balances, type of industry and experience.

The following states also allow companies to “buy down” their individual unemployment rates for the next year by making a voluntary contribution. This calculation is available on the state websites (e.g. Massachusetts website).

This is helpful to research and advise clients on — for example, if your business client is anticipating increasing their labor size in the next year, it may be cost effective to make a voluntary contribution. Be aware — if advising on the matter, there are strict deadlines when this contribution can be made to reduce their next year rate. If the employer is late, the rate will not be reduced — but money is not lost, it will just go into your individual company fund balance.

Below is a list of states that allow voluntary contributions and the due dates.

State	Due Date	State	Due Date
Arizona	Jan 31	Missouri	Postmarked Jan 15
Arkansas	Postmarked Mar 31	Nebraska	Jan 10
California	Mar 31	New Jersey	30 days after notice
Colorado	Mar 15	New York	Mar 31
Georgia	30 days after notice	North Carolina	30 days after notice
Indiana	30 days after notice	North Dakota	Apr 30
Kansas	30 days after notice	Ohio	Dec 31
Kentucky	20 days after notice	Pennsylvania	30 days after notice
Louisiana	30 days after notice	South Dakota	Dec 31
Maine	30 days after notice	Texas	60 days after notice
Massachusetts	30 days after notice	Washington	Received by Feb 15
Michigan	30 days after notice	West Virginia	30 days after notice
Minnesota	120 calendar days after Jan 1	Wisconsin	Nov 30

Most states use June 30 as a benchmark for determining the next year SUI wage bases. This is known as the “computation date”. Many states can take from four to nine months after the computation date to make their announcements.

Also, several states use different dates for “computation date” calculations:

State	Due Date	State	Due Date
Delaware	Oct 1	North Carolina	Aug 1
Hawaii	Dec 31	North Dakota	Sep 30
Kentucky	Jul 31	Oklahoma	Sep 30
Massachusetts	Sep 30	Rhode Island	Sep 30
Montana	Sep 30	Tennessee	Dec 31*
Nebraska	Dec 31	Texas	Oct 1
New Hampshire	Jan 31	Vermont	Dec 31*
New Jersey	Dec 31	U.S. Virgin Islands	Sep 30
New York	Dec 31

* July 1 wage base resets

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To keep your payroll staff informed, we recommend the Payroll Guide and other payroll publications. This guide provides analysis of deposit and reporting requirements, Social Security and Medicare taxes, federal unemployment tax, state unemployment and disability, benefits law, federal and state wage-hour laws, garnishments and child support withholding and more.

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James Paille CPP is the Director of Operations for Thomson Reuters myPay Solutions. He has been an executive manager in the payroll service industry for more than 30 years, specializing in managing multi-location offices. Jim is President of the American Payroll Association as well as a member of the National Speakers Bureau and chair of the CPP Certification Review Panel. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from St. John Fisher College in Rochester, NY.

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