The North Carolina Senate has passed Senate Bill 114, retroactively lowering 2021 unemployment tax rates for all employers in the state.
Senate Bill 114 was introduced in the February 17, 2021 General Assembly Session by the North Carolina Unemployment Oversight Committee. This bill received full support from the North Carolina Division of Employment Security as well as employers within the state who have seen a drastic increase in their state unemployment tax rates from 2020 to 2021. All this even though the NC DES excluded COVID-related benefit charges from the 2021 tax rate calculation.
SB 114 reduces the base contribution rate from 2.40% to 1.90% thus causing rates to fall back to 2020, pre-pandemic levels. This may result in an unemployment insurance tax rate reduction of up to 0.50% for each active, experience-rated employer. The North Carolina Department of Employment Security has begun recalculating tax rate based on this change and the target date of issuance is April 12, 2021. Important items to note are as follows:
- Employers who are affected by this change will receive a revised 2021 Tax Rate Notice by mail. For our clients, those revisions will be mailed to our office and we will send them out to you upon review and verification.
- Employers whose tax rate for 2021 is already at the minimum rate allowed by law (0.06%) will not be affected by this change and will not receive a revised notice.
- Employers whose tax rate for 2021 is already at the maximum rate allowed by law (5.76%) may or may not receive a rate reduction, depending on individual recalculation results.
- Employers who have the new-employer rate (1.00%) will not be affected by this change and will not receive a revised notice.
As always, if there are any questions please do not hesitate to contact us or visit our website at www.thomas-and-company.com.
