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Utah Unemployment Insurance Posters

September 4th, 2006 Posted by Emily

The Utah U.I. program, as defined on Utah Unemployment Insurance posters, is a federal/state partnership established in 1936 to provide temporary financial assistance to eligible unemployed workers. This program provides economic stability to workers, families, communities, and the Utah economy as a whole.

The unemployment insurance program is operated on general insurance principles, wherein employers pay contributions to fund benefits for workers during periods of unemployment. Contributions collected from Utah employers under the state unemployment tax are used exclusively to pay benefits to unemployed workers. All receipts from this tax are deposited with the U.S. Treasury in the Utah Unemployment Compensation Fund.

As stated on Utah Unemployment Insurance posters, eligibility for U.I. benefits is based in part on wages earned in insured work, not on the unemployed workers individual or family financial resources. As such, U.I. is not welfare, Social Security, worker’s compensation, or disability assistance.

All new or acquired businesses paying wages in Utah are required to register with the Department of Workforce Services. Registration is also required for an existing business if the entity or ownership of the business has changed, i.e., from a proprietorship to a partnership or a partnership to a corporation, etc.

In general, you are subject to taxes as defined in the Utah Employment Security Act if you have paid wages of $1 or more during a calendar quarter, you acquired your business from an employer who was subject to the Act, you pay wages of $1000 or more in a calendar quarter to a worker who performs domestic service, you employ agricultural workers and pay total wages of $20,000 or more in a calendar quarter or have 10 or more employees in 20 different weeks during the calendar year, you are subject to the Federal Unemployment Tax Act (FUTA), or you are a non-profit organization exempt from income tax under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and have 4 or more individuals in employment for some portion of a day in each of 20 different weeks during the calendar year.

There are two types of UI tax rates, new employer rates and “earned” rates. The new employer rate is assigned to employers who have less than one fiscal year (July 1 to June 30) of reporting experience. Earned rates are assigned to employers with one or more fiscal years of reporting experience.

New employer rates are assigned upon completion of the New Employer Registration process or submission of the Status Report, Form 1. If you register on-line, you will immediately be assigned your tax rate. If you mail or fax the registration form, you will receive a notice of your new employer tax rate in the mail.