Aug. 15 deadline for Wisconsin employers seeking relief of unemployment charges due to public health emergency

If employees at your organization were laid off due to the public health emergency declared by Executive Order 72 (as signed in March by Governor Evers) and filed initial unemployment claims for weeks after May 16, 2020, the organization may qualify for relief from unemployment insurance (UI) benefit charging.

If your organization received a Separation Notice (UCD-16) for an employee and the reason the employee is off work is due to COVID-19, the organization will need to submit Form UCB-18823-E.

Forms should be submitted within 30 days after the initial claim is filed. However, for initial claims filed between May 17 and June 30, 2020, forms must be submitted no later than Aug. 15, 2020. This applies to both not-for-profit and for-profit companies.

If an employee receives unemployment benefits as a result of a coronavirus-related business shutdown, what will be the effect on a reimbursable employer? For reimbursing employers, the following is taken directly from the Department of Workforce Development (DWD) website.

The CARES Act provides federal funds to states to reduce by half the liability of reimbursable employers for their claims through Dec. 26, 2020. Under 2019 Act 185, the state will reimburse the remaining half from the DWD’s interest and penalties account for benefit charges for initial claims related to the public health emergency declared by Executive Order 72.

Previously, the U.S. Department of Labor determined that employers subject to reimbursable financing must first pay the benefit charges due to the state in full before the federal government will reimburse those amounts. However, due to a new federal law, employers subject to reimbursable financing do not need to pay the state before the federal government will reimburse employers.

Your bill will continue to include 100% of all charges to your account because our billing system has not yet been updated. At this time, you should pay none of the benefit charges for initial claims related to the public health emergency declared by Executive Order 72. You should pay 50% of benefit charges for initial claims that are unrelated to the public health emergency declared by Executive Order 72. Once we have updated our system to reflect correct benefit charging, your account will be updated. We appreciate your patience as this may take many months to complete for all employers, but please be assured your account will be correctly credited.

Also, to request relief of charging under Act 185 for any initial claims filed by your employees for weeks of benefits filed after May 16, 2020, please visit DWD’s website and follow the instructions to complete and submit the form.

UI is not requiring the employer to file the UCB-18823-E Relief of Charging Due to Public Health Emergency form in order to receive charging relief for employees laid off and filing initial claims during the weeks of the Governor's Executive Order 72, March 15 to May 16, 2020.

For more information on this topic, or to learn how Baker Tilly tax specialists can help, contact our team.

The information provided here is of a general nature and is not intended to address the specific circumstances of any individual or entity. In specific circumstances, the services of a professional should be sought. Tax information, if any, contained in this communication was not intended or written to be used by any person for the purpose of avoiding penalties, nor should such information be construed as an opinion upon which any person may rely. The intended recipients of this communication and any attachments are not subject to any limitation on the disclosure of the tax treatment or tax structure of any transaction or matter that is the subject of this communication and any attachments.