WA Cares Fund | Employer Newsletter | October 2023

October 2023 | Issue 41

WA Cares & Paid Leave: Q3 reporting reminders

Reporting requirements take effect Oct. 1

Report for WA Cares

• You now report wages and hours for Paid Leave and WA Cares at the same time on the same report. But you will make two separate payments — one for each program — because each program has a separate trust fund.

No payroll report

• If you do not have payroll for the quarter, you now need to report “no payroll” through your Paid Leave employer account.

New (v8) CSV file specifications: Date of birth, WA Cares exemption status

• The new file format now includes fields for your employees' date of birth and WA Cares exemption status.
• The new file specifications and template are available at paidleave.wa.gov/reporting. We recommend you use the “test your file” button on that page before the reporting due date.

Paid Leave: 2024 premium rate coming soon

We'll announce the new rate in late October

The Paid Leave premium rate is changing on Jan. 1, 2024. Premiums, collected from employees and employers through quarterly reporting, fund the Paid Leave program. By law, we recalculate the Paid Leave premium rate annually on Sept. 30. The premium rate is adjusted based on contributions from premiums and benefits paid during the previous year.

• The new premium rate will be announced at the end of October and published on the Paid Leave website.
• Subscribers to this employer newsletter will receive an email when the new rate is available.

Paid Leave: We calculated business size

Paid Leave calculates business size annually on Sept. 30

For calendar year 2024, we determined your business size by averaging the number of employees on your reports for quarters three and four of 2022 and quarters one and two of 2023.

If your business size changed, we mailed you a letter in early October to let you know.

If we calculated that you have 50 or more employees:

• You will be responsible for paying the full premium rate, including the employer share of premiums, on wages paid Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2024.

If we calculated that you have fewer than 50 employees:

• Beginning Jan. 1, 2024, you will not be responsible for paying the employer share of premiums. You may still choose to contribute the full premium rate to the program by opting in on an annual basis. The enrollment period for calendar year 2024 is open until March 1. For more information about opting in, please visit https://paidleave.wa.gov/small-businesses/.

Resources

• Find premium rate information at paidleave.wa.gov/estimate-your-paid-leave-payments.

Unemployment Insurance (UI): ePay service going away Nov. 1

Use EAMS to pay unemployment insurance taxes

Do you pay your unemployment taxes using ePay? If so, you will need to submit payments through Employer Account Management Services using a SecureAccess Washington account.

Employment Security Department will no longer accept payment via ePay starting Nov. 1.

Don’t have a SecureAccess Washington account? Signing up is easy. You’ll need your name and email address.

If you do not use ePay to pay your unemployment taxes, this change does not affect you.

Questions? Contact OlympiaAMC@esd.wa.gov.