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| Oregon Employer Taxes for 2010 | ||
| 11/13/2009 | ||
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Contact: Tom Fuller 503-947-1301 Thomas.E.Fuller@state.or.us Craig Spivey 503-947-1303 Craig.C.Spivey@state.or.us The recent economic downturn has caused increased benefit payments to Oregonians out of the state’s Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund. For calendar year 2009 to date, the Employment Department has paid out a total of $ 2.2 billion. On average this equates to payments of approximately $50 million each week to 175,000 unemployed Oregonians and acts as a key stabilizer to local economies. Benefit payments are made from state and federal trust funds, which come from employer payroll taxes. The state Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund is designed to be self-balancing. Oregon law requires the Employment Department to use a statutory formula to determine employer payroll tax rates for the upcoming year. Based on that formula, Oregon will move from Schedule 3 to Schedule 6 in 2010. Letters to employers with notice of their new rate will go out November 13th. Oregon uses eight tax schedules to annually adjust employer tax rates based on the solvency of the Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund. Movement between the eight schedules of tax rates represents the self-balancing aspects of Oregon’s Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund law. As many as forty state’s funds are expected to run out of money by 2012. Twenty five are already borrowing to meet benefit payment demands. Each August in Oregon, a formula contained in statute determines how much should be collected during the next year to maintain a solvent fund. Each schedule has a range of tax rates based on an employer’s previous Unemployment Insurance experience. Employers with more Unemployment Insurance claims have a higher tax rate than those with fewer claims. As of January 2010, Oregon employers will be assessed Unemployment Insurance tax under Tax Schedule 6, which means they will be charged an average rate of 2.76% of the first $32,100 paid to each employee. Tax rates in Schedule 6 range from 1.8% to 5.4%. The specific rate each employer will pay under the new schedule depends on how much they have used the Unemployment Insurance system. The tax rate for new employers will increase from 2.4% to 3.1%. For more details please visit: http://www.employment.oregon.gov/EMPLOY/COMM/index.shtml -30- |
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