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All of these taxes may get your head spinning, as well as the head of your nearest accountant, but it is important to remember during this whole unemployment insurance talk that employers can also have some control over what sort of taxes they pay, at least when it comes to the unemployment insurance tax.

Sure, when you are a new employer in the state of New Hampshire, Nevada, or in any state, there is a set fixed tax rate that you start at when you pay unemployment insurance taxes. And that rate generally stays into effect for the better part of your first three years as a registered employer. But during those first three years even, you can affect how much your taxes will then go up and down when you switch to an experience tax rating system.

Part of what you can do of course is to simply be prompt when asked for information from the state, and when paying your unemployment insurance taxes. Generally, on a human to human level, people appreciate getting things on time. But more importantly for your future tax rate, states actually factor into your tax rate how timely you are in your payments.

Also, when providing info to the New Hampshire state unemployment insurance system, you will want to not only be on time, but be accurate. It is responsibility to know when and how you ended relationships with employees. Providing this sort of info can help state officials in New Hampshire know whether or not they should be paying benefits to your former employees. That can save you money down the road in your experience rating.

Part of this process is keeping accurate and up to date records on your current employees’ performance. Absence reports, disciplinary action reports, warning forms, and such can all serve as proof down the road if you need to show the unemployment insurance officials that an employee wasn’t actually laid off, but was fired for disciplinary reasons.

Unemployment Compensation taxes are paid by employers under two tax systems, Federal and State. Taxes are paid to the Federal government under the Federal Unemployment Tax Act (FUTA). These taxes are used to fund the administrative costs of the Federal and State programs and to finance a variety of services provided through the network of state employment security agencies. The New Hampshire Unemployment Insurance posters state this.

In New Hampshire, the Department of Employment Security maintains free public employment offices through which unemployed workers can file for unemployment compensation benefits and receive assistance in finding employment and where employers can get assistance in obtaining qualified employees and information about labor market trends. One way employees learn of these offices if by reading New Hampshire Unemployment Insurance posters. By law, Unemployment Compensation taxes paid to the State of New Hampshire are used exclusively to pay benefits to people who have worked in New Hampshire.

An “employing unit” means any individual or type of organization (including a partnership, corporation, trust, etc.) that employs one or more workers at any time. All employing units are under obligation to post New Hampshire Unemployment Insurance posters in visible locations for their employees. Services performed by an individual for wages will be considered to be employment subject to the Law unless and until it is shown to the satisfaction of the Commissioner of the Department of Employment Security that:

A. Such individual has been and will continue to be free from control or direction over the performance of such services, both under his contract of service and in fact; and

B.Such service is either outside the usual course of the business for which such service is performed or that such service is performed outside of all the places of business of the enterprise for which such service is performed; and

C.Such individual is customarily engaged in an independently established trade, occupation, profession, or business.

All three conditions, as described on New Hampshire Unemployment Insurance posters, must be met for the services to be excluded from coverage. If only one or two are met, the individual’s services are subject to the law as employment. This “A-B-C” test is the basic factor in resolving questions relating to “independent contractors” and “subcontractors.”

For a more in depth description of the unemployment insurance laws please see the New Hampshire Unemployment Insurance posters.

I noticed that in 2006, the state of New Hampshire made several revisions to its unemployment insurance laws. Those changes took effect on Jan. 1, 2006. I’ll try to recap most of the changes here.

Up until 2006, the law indicated that people who received unemployment compensation must be available to work full-time on all shifts and for all hours. The new legislation, HB 170, changes the provision by allowing workers to refuse a full-time job offer if it impacts their ability to care for a child, an ill person, or an elderly person. To be eligible for this, the worker must be the sole caretaker of the child or elderly person.

If an employee refuses to work the night shift because he or she has a child at home who’s under the age of 16, that person will be considered eligible for unemployment benefits.

In my research I found that the unemployment rate in New Hampshire in June 2006 was right at 3.3%.  Of course no one can dictate how long they’ll be unemployed, but in 2005 the duration of benefits was extended by the state for times of high employment, or during other special circumstances.

Unemployment benefits in New Hampshire are dependent on how much you earned during the base period. Those benefits are subject to Federal income taxes. Receiving your first check can take 2 to 3 weeks.

The eligibility requirements for New Hampshire’s Unemployment benefits are like those of most other states. You must have been employed for an established period of time. You must be unemployed through no fault of your own. You also need to be sure you file claims and answer questions in a timely manner. You must be eligible to work in the state of New Hampshire.