September 2024 | Issue 53

Unemployment Insurance: Act before Sept. 30 to protect your tax rate

If you have a balance, you can get a deferred payment contract

Avoid a delinquent tax rate for 2024! By Sept. 30:

• File all your tax reports.
• Pay your current and past-due unemployment taxes, penalties and interest in full.

Consider a deferred payment contract if you cannot pay
Are you unable to pay your balance owed? You can protect your tax rate by getting a deferred payment contract. Email our Collections unit at ESCtax@esd.wa.gov. 

If you have a delinquent account, we charge: 

• At least one percentage point more on your regular tax rate for the first year you are delinquent. 
• Two-percentage points more if you are late two years in a row. 
• The maximum social tax rate.

Learn from colleagues and experts at annual conference

The International Association of Workforce Professionals (IAWP) annual conference is right around the corner on Oct. 2 and 3 in Seattle. This year’s theme is “Empower Your Workforce. Partnership. Innovation. Community. Knowledge.”

Go to the IAWP conference webpage for more information.

Who should attend

• Workforce professionals in the public, private and non-profit sectors.
• Executive leaders, managers and front-line staff from state and county agencies.
• Corporate and organizational HR professionals.
• Career counseling professionals in K-12, technical, vocational and higher education.

About the conference
Attend sessions about empowering the workforce of tomorrow, artificial intelligence, innovative ways to recruit and retrain workers, discovering the art of pecha kucha, and more.

Also hear keynote speaker Dr. Jessica Houston, social worker. She will teach you how to navigate personal and professional stressors in her presentation, “Unleashing Extraordinary: From Surviving to Thriving.”

Register by Sept. 19 on the IAWP website.

Work to improve the lives of people with disabilities

If you are interested in disability justice and want to influence state decision makers, apply to become a volunteer member of the Washington State Governor’s Committee on Disability Issues & Employment (GCDE).

The GCDE is recruiting a new chairperson and new members. The application deadline is Sept. 13, 2024.

Committee members need to meet one or more of these criteria:

• Have a disability.
• Have a family member with a disability.
• Provide services to, or be an advocate for, people with disabilities.
• Work alongside others in the disability community to bring awareness and passion to projects that impact people with disabilities statewide.

Find application instructions, and information about member qualifications and responsibilities on the GCDE Become a member page. 

Paid Family & Medical Leave: POA process changes soon

Heads up if you use a third-party administrator for Paid Leave reporting! Beginning Sept. 20, you’ll be able to link to a third-party administrator from your online employer account. We'll include more information in our October newsletter.

Submit all reports before we calculate business size in September

The Paid Family & Medical Leave program is calculating business size on Sept. 30 for the next year. To do this, we’ll average the employee headcount you reported over the previous four quarters.

How you can benefit from an accurate count
Businesses with fewer than 50 employees do not have to pay the employer portion of premiums. Employers with 150 or fewer employees can apply for small-business assistance grants.  

Read about the grants and how we calculate business size on the Small businesses page of the Paid Leave website.

How to be sure if you submitted all your reports
Log into your employer account and check your wage report status to make sure you have successfully submitted for every quarter, including quarters with no payroll. Each quarterly reporting period should have a status of “Processed.”

• If the status is “Rejected,” we found an issue with your submission. Correct any errors or warnings in your file and resubmit.
• If the status shows nothing, you are missing a report. Select the reporting period and choose your filing method. Upload your file, enter your employee wage data or select “I have no payroll to report.” Then submit. If the report submission was successful, the status will change to “Processed” in 24 to 48 hours. 

If our calculations show that your business size changes, we will send you a letter in November.

WA Cares: Attend a webinar on home safety and fall prevention

Join us and a panel of experts for a discussion on home safety and fall prevention. We’ll cover:

• The effect of falls on older adults.
• What you can do to prevent falls.
• Important home safety considerations.
• Options for home modifications.
• Mobility aids or adaptive equipment that can help.

We’ll also provide an overview of the WA Cares Fund and how, in the future, it will help people live independently and safely in their own homes for longer.

When: Sept. 12, noon to 1 p.m.

Register.

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