Michigan Employer Advisor: August 2023

Greetings, Employers!

I’d like to start out by thanking all the employers who have filed their 2nd Quarter Wage and Tax Reports. Filing reports on time helps employers avoid possible penalties on their accounts. If your report hasn’t been filed, please submit it as soon as possible. Being timely means a more efficient Unemployment Insurance Agency to serve you better.

You may have heard the news about two new resources our agency has launched recently. The UIA Claimant Roadmap and guidance sessions for first-time filers are exciting changes in our push to modernize the UIA into a national model for fast, fair, and fraud-free service. Both resources help filers better understand in easy terms how to file a claim.

Don’t fret: A similar change is coming for the employer community. We are targeting a fall launch for the Employer Help Center, which will serve as a centralized hub for employers to efficiently manage their most common unemployment tax and claim issues. Like the Claimant Roadmap, the Employer Help Center is being designed by Civilla, a nonprofit Detroit design studio. I have seen the prototype and I know you are going to like it.

This month’s newsletter starts off with the news that the taxable wage base will be unchanged for 2024. The unemployment insurance trust fund’s health continues to improve, but it is not yet at the level that triggers a reduction in the taxable wage base. Also this month, we walk you through changes that you may have noticed in the e-Registration application that will streamline the registration process. We provide the dates through the end of the year for our Office of Employer Ombudsman's Employer Seminars. Finally, you can learn more about different ways to make your quarterly payments.

If you want to suggest an article or topic for a future edition of the Employer Advisor newsletter, or just want to tell us how much you enjoy reading it, please send a message to UIA-EmployerAdvisor@Michigan.gov. You can find past newsletters on the Employer Homepage at Michigan.gov/UIA.

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Taxable Wage Base unchanged for 2024

Employers will not see a change next year in the taxable wage base, which is the amount of an employee's wages taxed by UIA.

Contributing employers currently pay taxes on the first $9,500 of earnings. According to the Michigan Employment Security Act, the taxable wage base is reduced if the balance in the Michigan Unemployment Compensation Fund equals or exceeds $2.5 billion and the UIA projects the balance will remain at or above that level for the remainder of the calendar quarter and for the entire succeeding quarter.

As of June 30, the trust fund balance was $2.2 billion. If the trust fund threshold met those parameters, then the taxable wage base would have been reduced to $9,000. Since it’s below $2.5 billion, employers will not see a reduction in the taxable wage base for 2024.

The taxable wage base is mainly for contributing employers since reimbursing employers do not pay quarterly taxes but rather report only the wages for their employees.

Employers would qualify for future taxable wage base reduction if they are not delinquent in paying employment contributions, penalties, or interest. An employer is considered delinquent if they owe $25 or more to their account.

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Changes Implemented in July Add Efficiencies to E-Registration Process

Enhancements were made in July to the e-Registration application that include working and functionality revisions. The changes give employers clearer instructions which will result in a more efficient flow to the registration process.

If a business has employees covered by the Michigan unemployment insurance law, it must register for an employer account. An employer can register for most Michigan business taxes, and/or a sales tax license using the on-line e-Registration application.

New Informational Page

The following is required for the registration process:

• Your federal employer identification number (FEIN).
• The state and date of incorporation for corporations.
• The owner, corporate officer, partner or member’s date of birth and Social Security number (SSN).
• The Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) assigned by the federal Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for an entity owned by a foreign individual.
• If acquiring an existing Michigan business, the unemployment employer account number and FEIN of the business being acquired.

Additional Statements, Language

If the number of locations does not match, users will receive an error message. To clear the errors, check the verify the following:

• The number of locations in Step 4 must match the number in Step 8.
• If buying an existing business or multiple businesses, Step 4 must match the locations in Step 11 and the number of Schedule Bs completed in Step 12.
• Step 11 cannot be “No” if multiple Schedule Bs are completed in Step 12.

Schedule A Liability Questionnaire (Step 10):

• The date that you did/will first employ anyone in Michigan was changed from six months into the future to less than three months. An error message was added to display “Date cannot be more than 3 months in the future”.
• Standard employer has been added to employer type to assist with making the correct selection that describes a business.
• If you are an agricultural employer, there are two options but only one can be selected. Either you reached $20,000 of payroll by a specific date, or you had 10 employees within 20 different weeks in the current or preceding calendar year. The date that you had 10 employees within 20 weeks must not be less than 20 weeks. An error message was added to display “<20W of first employment”. 

Attachments Can Now Be Included

Additional documents are sometimes needed to complete the registration process. With the new changes, employers can add attachments before submitting the registration application. This will shorten the processing time.

Change Button Removed

The extra step of selecting “change” before getting to your application has been removed. The names on the options have also changed.

• On a draft application, the selection has been changed to “Continue Editing”. 
• On a pending application, the selection has been changed to “Review/Change Submission”.

If you have questions or need help with this process, contact the Tax Status unit through the Office of Employer Ombudsman at 1-855-484-2636, select option #5.

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Employer Seminars Set Through Dec.

We’re taking the month of September off, but have penciled in the next round of Employer Seminars.

Scheduled dates for the rest of 2023:

• October 11.
• November 8.
• December 13.

Times for all three will be from 10 a.m. to noon.

Attendance has been strong for past seminars. New or existing employers are urged to sign up for one of the future sessions by emailing UIA-EmployerAdvisor@Michigan.gov.

The seminars discuss unemployment insurance topics ranging from navigating your Michigan Web Account Manager (MiWAM) account, to Benefit Claims, to appeals. There’s an opportunity to ask questions and additional, helpful resources will also be provided. 

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Options to Submit Quarterly Payments

The Unemployment Insurance Agency (UIA) has several options for employers to pay their quarterly unemployment tax liability. To ensure proper and timely posting of payments, please make the payment before the due date.

Paper Check

When submitting a payment by mail, write the UIA account number in the memo section of the check. Failure to provide an account number could result in a payment being unidentified which would delay posting to an account.

A payment will be applied to the oldest quarter with an outstanding balance. If the preference is to have the payment applied to a specific quarter, submit payment with a payment voucher UIA-4101-Employers-Tax-Payment-Coupon.pdf. 

MiWAM Payments — ACH Debit

Employers can make a payment through their MIWAM account, but first verify with your financial institution that they can authorize a debit from your bank account. Contact your financial institution and ask to have ACH transactions identified with the company ID 9044030366 to process. This authorizes UIA to debit your account. To add your financial institution, log into your MiWAM account at Michigan.gov/UIA and add a payment profile.

Bulk Payment

Bulk payment allows UIA taxpayers to authorize a single payment and submit a file indicating how the payment should be allocated for multiple employers through their MiWAM account. Only web account users who are directly authorized to file and pay on behalf of the employer or have a power of attorney on file with UIA for the employer, can use this function. This function can also be used for reimbursement payments.

A fixed-length file format provides the information needed to allocate the authorized payment. The format can be found in your MiWAM account under Bulk Payment Format.

ACH Credit

ACH credit allows the employer to authorize unemployment quarterly taxes or reimbursements payments using the National Automated Clearance House Association (NACHA) Cash Concentration & Disbursement (CCD)+ and Corporate Trade Exchange (CTX) standard formats. Contact your financial institution in advance to notify them of your ACH transfer amount. Most require at least 24 hours lead time but ask about specific deadlines.

UIA treats each employer account number as a separate entity. Therefore, if you are submitting a payment for multiple account numbers, a separate addenda record must be submitted for each account. Use the CTX format if you are submitting a payment with multiple addenda records. (The maximum number of addenda per transmission is 99.)

Finding More Information

To ensure the correct information is available, the above formats are detailed on Fact Sheet 154 or in the MiWAM Toolkit for Employers — Part 1, which can be found on UIA’s Employer Homepage.

Making payments electronically will help ensure efficient processing of quarterly tax payments. Failure to provide information in the proper format could delay processing or cause payments to be rejected or unidentified.

If you have any questions or need assistance, call the MIWAM Support unit for help, found within the Office of Employer Ombudsman at 1-855-484-2636. We are available daily.