[ 15.1.1 - Annual Tax Rates ] [ 15.1.2 - Annual Tax Rates for Domestic Annual Filers ] [15.1.3 - Interim Tax Rates ] [15.1.4 - Taxed Political Subdivision Tax Rate ] [15.1.5 - Total Taxable Wage Reporting ]

Tax rates are calculated during the year for employers eligible for an experience rate.

Those eligible for a computed tax rates fall into four categories.

1. Annual tax rates. For employers having an experience rate in the previous year. This series of jobs is produced in November for rates effective the following year.
   
   
2. Annual tax rates for Domestic/Annual Filers. This series of computer jobs is produced in February for domestic employers with an experience rate in the previous year. It is produced just before the interim tax run for employers eligible for an experience rate computation effective January 1 of the current year.
   
   
3. Interim tax rates. For employers becoming eligible for an experience rate computation for the first time. These jobs are produced on a quarterly basis following the quarterly chargeback updates.
   
   
4. Taxed Political Subdivisions. This is a group tax rate for governmental employers electing to be a taxed employer.

The annual rate program a taxed gathers data from the EMF in order to calculate experience tax rates for annual and interim tax rates. The programs produces various printed reports to be verified by the Experience Rating Unit. Accounts Examiners proof rate calculations from the reports. The reports are checked for system problems that must be reported to the programmers. If the number of affected accounts is large, then the errors must be resolved and the program is re-run producing corrected reports. Problems unique to one account are manually corrected by Accounts Examiners.

The program produces a tax rate notice for each active account other than those accounts receiving an interim tax rate effective January 1 the coming year.

The printed reports for the annual rate computation (in order) are:

1. Two jobs accumulate data from Controller ledgers for Tax Rate Computation Worksheet 1. The day prior to the production of this report, the Rate Control Card (RCC screen on EMF) must be changed before 2:00 p.m.
   
   For an annual Rate the following information is required:
   
   

   Year:	Enter the year of the rate period being calculated in YYYY format.
   (A)NNUAL/(I)NTERIM:	Enter "A" if requesting an annual and "I" if an interim rate period.
   QUARTER (1-4):	Leave blank if an annual rate run. If an interim rate run enter 1,2,3, or 4 to designate the proper interim rate period.
   DATE ON RATE:	Enter the mailing date to be printed
   NOTICE:	on the C-22s. (MM-DD-YY format).
   PM DATE ON C24 BUYDOWN:	Enter the due date for the C-24. 60 days from mailing date. (MM-DD-YY format).
   ACTIVATE RUN: N (Y/N):	If the calculated tax rate can not be updated to  the EMF in the next tax run, you can cause daily rerating to update the rate tape instead of the RAT screen by entering a "Y". Remember to return field to field to "N" after rates are updated to RAT screen to allow normal daily processing of rerates.

   
   
   
2. A tax job that calculates average tax rates for each NAICS code major group(3 digit groups)to determine entry level rates when Smart Jobs is not in effect.
   
   
3. A tax job that loads the average rates into a computer file.
   
   The following jobs are run after the billing date in November (usually the 20^th of the month).
   
   
4. Two jobs that calculate charges over the maximum rate and other four-quarter data used in the calculation of annual ratios. These jobs produce several verification reports.
   
   
5. Tax jobs that calculate annual ratios and produce reports.
   
   
6. Tax Rate Computation Worksheets 1-4 and the Tax Rate Computation Memo.
   
   The computations contained in the Rate Register Sample Report are verified individually. The total number of active and inactive accounts are compared for reasonableness. This comparison of the number of accounts is also done for non-rated accounts and first interims against the number of accounts in the prior year annual and interim runs.
   
   The late payment register shows a sample number of accounts with wages postmarked late for the annual tax rate calculation. The ADT screen is used to verify these amounts and the three year tax wage total.
   
   
7. Tax job produces the tax rate tables used by Accounts Examiners.
   
   
8. A series of jobs that calculate the individual annual tax rates and print numerous statistical and verification reports.
   
   
9. A test print of the annual tax rate notices. The forms are reviewed to insure that the print programs use the correct form and ratios. AD&M is notified to proceed with the main printing jobs if the sample is correct.
   
   
10. Series of tax jobs that update rates to computer files, print rate notices, and statistical reports.

This series of jobs is produced before the first interim run in February. The same jobs are produced as in the regular annual computation with the exception of some of the reports pertaining to the grand totals for the entire EMF. The same process is used to verify the correct calculation of the annual rates for domestic employers electing to file on an annual basis. Two things are different for this production of tax rates. First, the due date for the annual report is January 31st of the year in which the tax rate is effective. Therefore, the annual report is timely for the purpose of computing the tax rate if the taxes due for the previous year are postmarked by January 31st.

Second, the ETA 204 report produced for Benefits is also run at this time to include the domestic/annual filers in the report to DOL.

The four interim rate runs use the same computer programs as the annual to calculate the tax rates for employers eligible for an experience rate computation. The first three interim rates computations are auto-scheduled to run after the first daily tax run dated March, June and September These computations must follow the completion of the quarterly chargeback update. The fourth interim run is requested and occurs in November.

The job selects all accounts entitled to the appropriate interim tax rate and calculates the tax rate.

The Experience Rating Unit uses the Annual/Interim Control Card as discussed earlier.

The control card settings for interim rates are:

• Year - current
• 'I' to designate it as an interim run
• 1,2,3,or 4 for the quarter.
• C-22 date. Date the rate notices will be mailed.
• C-24 due date. This field must contain a date although it is not applicable for the interim rate computation.

Two jobs that produce the Rate Register Sample Report and the Late Payment Register.

If the Rate Register Sample Report and the Late Payment Register prove correct, then additional jobs are run before the next daily tax run.

Running after the daily and before the next daily prevents an intervening daily tax run. This is important because the interim rate runs do not have the correction batch capabilities that the annual run has.

If a daily tax run occurs, we must rerun the interim jobs from the beginning.

Interim rates posts to the Status Master Record and the RAT screen. We validate these updates using the accounts on the Rate Register Sample Report.

The Rate Update Error List, which provides the account number; period and previous rate for any account that had a prior computed rate. We check each account to discover which if either rate is the correct one.

The rate notices is the last job to run. It prints the tax rate notices. The rate notices are sampled to ensure the print is correct. A count of rate notices printed is determined from the last page number of the C-22 print. The highest page number should match the total active accounts from the Rate Register Sample Report.

The taxed political subdivision tax rate is calculated just before the first interim tax rate calculation in February of the year the rate is effective.

The taxed political subdivision tax rate is calculated by dividing the total benefits paid in the prior calendar year based on wages paid by the political subdivision plus or minus the difference between the benefits paid and the tax collected from the same accounts for the same period by total paid taxed wages from these accounts and these quarters.

The denominator can be determined from tax files but the numerator must be determined from Controller Department Ledgers.

The first job to run for the first interim is the job that accumulates and displays on a report various wage and tax totals by thousand groups and all taxed political subdivisions.

The rate calculation uses the Paid Wages total. We check the various totals for reasonableness by comparing to the previous year and to the monthly wage controls. We can utilize the monthly wage controls because the report has separate totals for regular taxed and taxed political subdivision employers.

A job runs to read the Controller ledgers to determine the benefits paid and tax collected totals used in the rate calculation. Since these numbers come from Controller ledgers, we ask the Controller Department to verify these numbers.

This job also combines its benefit and tax information with the group tax rate. Two reports provide the calculation. The first report describes the calculation in detail in words. The second report describes the calculation more with numbers. We proof the print of both reports before passing the reports to the UI Director for distribution outside the agency.

The Total Taxable Wage Reporting job is not one of the annual jobs, but does have some valuable information. This report displays by quarter the total reported taxed wages, the paid and unpaid taxed wages. It displays by calendar year the total tax due, and the paid and unpaid tax. Besides helping with the annual rate run, this report helps predict future tax rates, revenue, trust fund balance, and the ceiling and floor of the trust fund.

The reasonableness of the total taxable wages reported and the total paid taxable wages for all employers can be determined by matching the totals to the quarterly wage controls produced by this job. The split between experience rated and non-rated wages is fairly constant from one year to the next, so the ratio from the prior year is useful in verifying the reasonableness of those figures.

The report is produced the last day of each quarter and also on October 31st before the annual tax rate computation.