July 13, 2020 Wisconsin employers must file form for relief from charges for COVID-19 UI benefits The Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development (DWD) has announced that both contributory and reimbursing employers must use Form UCB-18823-E to request relief from charges of unemployment insurance (UI) benefits paid in connection with Executive Order 72 pertaining to the COVID-19 emergency. According to the instructions, Form UCB-18823-D must be submitted within 30 days after the initial claim is filed. However, for initial claims filed between May 17, 2020 and June 30, 2020, the deadline for submission is August 15, 2020. Employers are instructed to email the completed form(s) as encrypted documents and to send to DWD the password for the protected document in a separate email. Employers should include the Wisconsin UI account number in the subject line of both emails. Wisconsin's provisions for the charging of COVID-19 UI to contributory employer accounts According to DWD's frequently asked questions (FAQs) for employers, if employees of a contributory employer are laid off due to the public health emergency declared by Executive Order 72 and initial unemployment claims were filed for weeks after May 16, 2020, the employer may qualify for relief of UI benefit charging. To request relief of charging, the contributory employer must file Form UCB-18823-E. DWD anticipates that the charging relief will take many months to complete for all reimbursing employers because it is a manual process. Accordingly, pursuant to contributory employers, DWD issued an emergency rule that benefit charges and adjustments for March 15, 2020 through June 30, 2020 will not affect employer contribution rates for 2021, even if the charging relief is not processed for each employer's account. Wisconsin's provisions for the charging of COVID-19 UI to reimbursing employers For reimbursable employers, half of the benefits for the period of March 15, 2020 through December 26, 2020 for initial claims related to the public health emergency declared in Executive Order #72 will be charged to the DWD's interest and penalty account. Reimbursing employers will receive federal reimbursement of the remaining half after employers pay those amounts to the DWD. Example: Employees of a reimbursable employer receive $3,000 of benefits for initial claims related to Executive Order #72 in April 2020. $1,500 will be charged to the interest and penalty account, so the employer is not required to pay for those benefits. The employer must pay $1,500 to the department. After payment is made, the reimbursable employer can request relief of the remaining amount ($1,500 in this example). To request relief of the other half of benefit charging, reimbursing employers must file Form UCB-18823-E. ———————————————
——————————————— EY Payroll News Flash
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