Paid Family and Medical Leave calculates business size annually on September 30. For calendar year 2023, we will determine your business size by averaging the number of employees on each of your reports for quarters three and four of 2021 and quarters one and two of 2022.

If your business size changes, we will send a letter in the mail by late October to let you know.

If we calculate that you have 50 or more employees:

You will be responsible for paying the employer share of premiums from January 1, 2023 through December 31, 2023.

If we calculate that you have fewer than 50 employees:

Beginning January 1, 2023, you will not be responsible for paying the employer share of premiums.

Next steps:

• If you had employees during quarters three and four or 2021 and quarters one and two of 2022, make sure you have submitted a report. This ensures we can correctly calculate the size of your business.
• Find premium rate information at paidleave.wa.gov/estimate-your-paid-leave-payments

It’s September, but it’s not too early to start thinking about your fourth quarter tax report.

If you haven’t done so already, you will need to upgrade to the latest version of the Employer Account Management Services (EAMS) system before you file your fourth quarter tax report. We are gradually making more filers eligible for upgrade. If you’re eligible, you’ll see an upgrade alert after logging in. All employers will be eligible for an upgrade in time for their fourth quarter report.

It’s easy:

• Log into SecureAccess Washington and sign into EAMS.
• If you’re eligible to upgrade, you will see an upgrade alert at the top of the page.
• Select the link and follow the instructions.

Once you’ve upgraded in EAMS, here are a couple things to know about filing your tax report:

• If you file a combined unemployment tax report for multiple employers in one file, you need to use our new bulk filing format specifications.
• If you file an unemployment tax report for yourself or one employer at a time, our format has changed. Learn more on our website.

Want to learn more about these changes? Register for an upcoming webinar from 11 a.m. to noon on Friday, Sept. 30.

Standard Occupational Classification code webinar scheduled for Sept. 16

Do you have questions about Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) codes?

SOC is a federal coding system that helps government agencies and private businesses compare occupational data. All employers will be required to report SOC codes when they submit their quarterly tax reports starting with their fourth quarter 2022 report.

Reporting SOC codes is currently optional and is available only to those filing for a single employer.

SOC code webinar - Friday, Sept. 16, 11 to 11:45 a.m. – Register

If you can’t attend, check out our previously recorded SOC code webinar or download our webinar presentation to review commonly asked questions and answers.

If you have questions about SOC codes, check out our webpage or email us at socreporting@esd.wa.gov.

The WA Cares team is always working to improve the features and information available on our website. Recently, we launched a new tool that allows users to view our content in 16 languages. You can find this tool under the “Languages” header on any page.

Available languages now include: English, Amharic, Arabic, Chinese (simplified), German, Japanese, Khmer, Korean, Lao, Nepali, Punjabi, Russian, Samoan, Spanish, Ukrainian, and Vietnamese.