CA Employers subject to FUTA reduction credit- additional amounts due!

For Wages Employers Paid in 2022

California employers fund regular Unemployment Insurance (UI) benefits through contributions to the state’s UI Trust Fund on behalf of each employee. They also pay Federal Unemployment Tax Act (FUTA) taxes to the federal government to help pay for:

• Administration of the UI program
• UI loans to insolvent states
• Federal extension benefits

Tax Information

Due to the impact of the unprecedented COVID-19 crisis, California has had an outstanding federal loan balance for two consecutive years. As a result, California employers will see an increase in their FUTA taxes in January 2023 for wages paid to their workers in 2022. California began borrowing from the federal government starting June 3, 2020 in order to maintain solvency of our UI fund. Per the May 2022 UI Fund Forecast, California’s expected year-end loan balance is estimated to be $19.3 billion at the end of 2022.

Generally, federal law provides employers with a 5.4 percent FUTA tax credit toward the 6.0 percent regular tax when they file their Employer’s Annual Federal Unemployment (FUTA) Tax Return (Form 940). However, this credit will be reduced by 0.3 percent to 5.1 percent for the 2022 tax year. For each employer in California, that results in an additional $21 per employee, per year. Without any change to the state’s UI funding structure, FUTA costs are anticipated to increase by an additional 0.3 percent each year until the UI Trust Fund regains solvency. For more information, visit FUTA Credit Reduction on the IRS website.