Scott B. Sanders, Commissioner
Employer Assistance
Indiana Department of Workforce Development
Jennifer Chappell, Director of UI Tax
SEPTEMBER 2013
Employers: Make Your Move
to Uplink TODAY!
Uplink, Indiana’s unemployment insurance filing system, will
help you manage your unemployment insurance account online 24 hours
a day, 7 days a week.
Through Uplink Employer Self
Service (ESS) you can:
(317) 234-3182
•Manage your employees’
unemployment insurance benefit
claims
•Upload quarterly wage files
•View account history
•File quarterly contribution reports
Start managing your account online today at www.in.gov/dwd
Forms
How to Reach Us:
• Employer TAX Hotline: 1-800-437-9136
• Employer Benefit Charge Questions: 1-800-891-6499
• Ask Work One Email: https://askworkone.in.gov/
• Indiana Career Connect: www.IndianaCareerConnect.com
• Employer Handbook on Unemployment Insurance at:
www.in.gov/dwd/files/Employer Handbook.pdf
General Contact information:
Jennifer Chappell, Director of UI Tax
jchappell@dwd.in.gov
317-232-7698
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Unemployment Insurance
EMPLOYER PREMIUMS
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Employer Contributions:
• Federal Unemployment Tax Act (FUTA)
o Taxable wage base on first $7,000/employee (CY)
o 6.0% (credit up to 5.4% - reduced to 4.5% in 2013)
• State Unemployment Tax Act (SUTA)
o Taxable wage base on first $9,500/employee (CY)
o Rate determined by experience
o New Employer Rate: 2.50%
o Minimum Earned Rate: 0.50%
o Maximum Earned Rate: 7.40%
o Penalty rate: Earned Rate +2.00%
o New Construction Rate: 4.0%
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Employer Quarterly Reporting
• Quarterly Contribution Report
– Self reporting of contribution due based on wages paid in the current and
preceding quarters in this year.
• Quarterly Wage Report
– Wage reports should be filed through ESS or via e-media. If you want to file
a hardcopy report, the wage report form must be downloaded from DWD
Website: www.in.gov/dwd
• Quarterly Wage Report Due Dates:
Quarter
Wages Paid
Report Due Date
First
Jan, Feb, Mar
April 30th
Second
April, May, June
July 31st
Third
July, Aug, Sept
October 31st
Fourth
Oct, Nov, Dec
January 31st
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Employer Premium Computation:
1. Applicable Rate Schedule
9 Schedules: A through I
2. Employer Type (based on account status on June 30 & past 36 mos. taxable
payroll)
a. New Employer
b. Merit Employer
c. Delinquent Employer
d. Reimbursable
3. Experience Account Balance
a. Two Types of Merit Employers:
1) Credit Reserve Balance Accounts
2) Debit Balance Accounts
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Reimbursable Employers:
•
•
•
Not-for-profit and governmental employers may choose to be
reimbursable employers.
Reimbursable employers are responsible for repaying the state
dollar-for-dollar for unemployment insurance benefits paid to
former employees.
All other employers are required to make regular premium
payments.
Become a reimbursable employer by:
• Providing DWD a copy of your Internal Revenue Service (IRS)
501(c)(3) exemption status letter; and
• Submitting a completed “Election to Pay Tax” form, DWD 1065,
located at www.in.gov/dwd/2406.htm.
Unemployment Insurance
Successorship
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Successorship
•
•
•
•
If your business takes operational control of all or part of the assets of an existing
(SUTA liable) business resulting in a change in the FEIN of the business, you are a
successor employer under IC 22-4-10-6.
The workforce of a business is considered to be an asset of the business.
An “asset transfer only” is a successorship as defined by the statute.
The successor must notify the Agency of the intended transfer in writing no less
than 5 days prior to the intended date of the transfer.
 DWD will not hold the successorship until the actual date on which operational
control transfers.
 The successor inherits the experience balance and liabilities of the predecessor.
 Timely filing of the intent to transfer protects the successor from being subject to a lien
for debts owned by the predecessor, but not from the debts of the predecessor.
 If the successor employer is not SUTA liable in Indiana at the time of the transfer, the
premium of the successor is equal to the premium assigned to the disposer (predecessor).
 The disposer must file their final report and notice of transfer concurrent with their last
payroll date.
Unemployment Insurance
Abatement Requests
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Abatement Requests
The Unemployment Insurance Board has prescribed situations considered to be
reasonable cause for abatement of the delinquency rate modification, penalty, or
interest where timely and in-full payment of contribution has not been received by
IDWD.
Contribution can not be abated.
Special Charges (Solvency Surcharge) cannot be abated.
Reasonable cause includes:
Acts of God, nature, war, or terrorism;
Death or incapacitation of an owner or preparer;
A timely mailed report not received by IDWD;
Third party reliance where the agent has been removed or the situation has been
corrected and cannot recur (penalty and delinquent rate abatement only);
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Abatement Requests
Reasonable Cause continued:
Cash flow where the employer is in a valid repayment agreement before the expiration of
the merit rate delinquency notice with proof of financial hardship (delinquent rate
modification only);
Administrative error with evidence that the situation will not recur;
ESS payment error with proof of payment attempt (penalty only);
Mail requests to:
DWD Tax Administration
ATTN: Abatement Request
10 N. Senate Ave. SE 202
Indianapolis, IN 46204
Be sure to include:
• SUTA account number
• Reason for the failure to make payment timely and in full
• Documentation supporting the assertion of cause
• Quarter and year affected
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Unemployment Insurance
Employer Liability Protests
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Employer Liability Protests
Liability ALJs conduct hearings concerning employer coverage and premium liability.
ALJ’s jurisdiction includes disagreements between employers and DWD regarding:
• Assessments for interest, taxes and penalties
• Transfers of an employer’s experience balance and rates in cases of ownership
transfers
• Protests related to worker classification
• Premium rates calculated by DWD
• SUTA Dumping
You may protest an initial determination by mailing notice to
DWD Tax Administration
ATTN: Director UI Tax Administration
10 N. Senate Ave. SE 202
Indianapolis, IN 46204
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Employer Liability Protests
•
Protests should be filed on the form provided by the Agency.
 If you are not able to use the protest form, please submit your protest in
writing and include the basis for your protest and a copy of the determination
being protested.
•
The protest must be received within 15 days after the mailing date of the initial
determination or notice being protested.
•
The LALJ will set a date for the hearing and notify the interested parties.
•
You can appear in person or by telephone and have an attorney represent you,
although representation is not required. Legal representation is at your own
expense.
•
The Liability Administrative Law Judge is specifically prohibited from making a
determination of qualification for UI Benefits.
Employer Liability Protests
•
Employer protests of UI Tax determinations are with regard to the correct
application of the Act to their SUTA liability and are not considered Tax Protests for
purposes of the Indiana Court of Appeals.
•
To be successful, the employer must show that DWD has incorrectly interpreted or
applied the statute(s) to the facts surrounding their account.
 This may include the math underlying a calculation, as in the instance of a rate appeal or
an appeal of a liability assessment, or it may be the application of the 1/2/3 test to
employer / worker relationship in a compliance audit notice of findings.
 In each case, the employer must show the court that the application of the law is
incorrect. When you are preparing your protest, please be sure to address the issue at
the root of the determination. For example, if your premium increased because of
claimant collection against your account, filing a protest of the rate calculation will not,
generally, be successful in that the calculation of your rate does not give you an
additional opportunity to protest a claim.
•
The decision of the ALJ becomes final 30 days after the mailing date, unless there
is a filing of a Notice of Appeal within the 30 days, and a subsequent case filed
with the Indiana Court of Appeals. The Notice of Appeal delays the decision for 30
days.
Look at over 200,000 Hoosier resumes on
www.IndianaCAREERconnect.com
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