labor lawAdivision of labor law center

To find out if you are liable to pay unemployment insurance taxes in the state of Nebraska, you first have to determine if the state even considers you an employer there. The Nebraska officials consider the official definition of employer to be “an individual or type of organization including any partnership, association, trust, estate, corporation or government agency who employs people.”

Sounds pretty straightforward right? Well, the law in the state of Nebraska goes on to differentiate between employers who are liable to pay unemployment insurance taxes and those who are not, and this differentiation is very important for determining your status in the state. But at least the state officials in charge of the process seem to make it relatively simple for employers to figure this out.

As a new employer in the state of Nebraska, you just have to send in an Application for an Unemployment Insurance Account Number. The state officials in charge of the unemployment insurance system then review your application and determine if you are liable to pay unemployment insurance tax in the state. So in effect, you don’t have to make that determination or worry about it. The state will do it for you.

They will then send you a letter that tells you whether or not you are liable. If you are liable, they will then set up an Unemployment Insurance Account Number for you, and pass that along to you as well. Then you will receive a report form every quarter from the state that tells you how many former employees of yours have been claiming unemployment insurance benefits on your account.

All of these forms, needless to say, should be kept in the safest possible location in your company’s human resource storage system. The unemployment records could be kept near to your personnel files, because much of the info on the unemployment forms will be included in forms in your personnel files, such as your exit interview forms, your employee employment offer and acknowledgement forms, and what not.

As stated on Nebraska Unemployment Insurance posters, the unemployment insurance program is designed as a partnership between the federal government and state governments. States collect quarterly unemployment insurance taxes and wage information to pay unemployment insurance benefits to qualified workers.

Workers reading Nebraska Unemployment Insurance posters will find that in Nebraska these taxes are paid by employers only and are not a withholding from worker wages. The federal part, Federal Unemployment Tax, is paid to the I.R.S. and is used to pay the administrative costs of state programs.

Every employer who begins operations in this state and employs a person or persons is required to file an Application For An Unemployment Insurance Account Number, (UI Form 1) even though such an employer may not be subject to the Law. Upon receipt of the completed report, a determination of the employer’s liability will be made. Once an employer is determined liable, he or she is issued an unemployment insurance account number - a ten-digit number starting with a zero. This number is different from the state revenue number or I.R.S. number.

A liable employer is an individual or type of organization including any partnership, association, trust, estate, corporation, Limited Liability Company or governmental agency that employs people and meets the coverage provisions of the Nebraska Employment Security Law.

Once an employer has an account, employers are mailed quarterly Combined Tax Reports and Wage Reports each quarter. Reports and payments are due back at the Department of Labor by the end of the month following the end of the quarter. Additionally, all liable employers must post Nebraska Unemployment Insurance posters in visible locations.

Beginning January 1, 2006, new employers and other non-experience rated employers have been assigned a tax rate equal to the state average tax rate or 2.5% - whichever is less. This tax rate applies to the taxable wage base. The taxable wage base in 2006 is $8,000 and in 2007 and thereafter it will be $9,000.