For 2017, 2018 and 2019 the ranges of Ohio
unemployment tax rates (also know as contribution rates) are as
follows:
| | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | |
| Lowest Experience Rate | 0.3% | 0.3% | 0.3% | |
| Highest Experience Rate | 8.8% | 9.0% | 9.2% | |
| Mutualized Rate | 0.6% | 0.0% | 0.0% | |
| New Employer Rate | 2.7% | 2.7% | 2.7% | *except construction |
| *Construction Industry | 6.2% | 6.0% | 5.9% | |
| Delinquency Rate | 11.8% | 11.3% | 11.5% | |
| Annual Taxable Wage Base | $9,000 | $9,500 | $9,500 | |
Rate Notification
Contribution Rate
Determinations are mailed for the coming calendar year on or before
December 1. To determine how
much tax is due each quarter, multiply the rate by the total you paid during the quarter. Note: Employers are required to file electronically.
Experience
Rate
Once an employer's
account has been chargeable with benefits for four consecutive
calendar quarters ending June 30, the account becomes eligible for
an experience rate beginning with the next calendar year. The
experience includes taxable wages reported, contributions paid
(including voluntary payments) and benefits charged. Unemployment
taxes paid are credited to an employer's account. Unemployment
benefits paid to eligible claimants are charged to the accounts of
the claimant's employers during the base period of the claim. These
factors are recorded on the employer's account and are used to
compute the annual tax rate after the employer becomes eligible for
an experience rate.
Due to economic
conditions and unemployment claims filed,
the Ohio Unemployment Compensation Trust Fund is more than sixty
percent below the "minimum safe level" as of the computation date
of the 2019 rates (The "minimum safe level" is, in essence, the
balance required in the UC Trust Fund to fund a moderate
recession). Therefore, the tax rate schedule in effect for 2019
includes an across the board minimum safe level increase to protect
the financial integrity of the trust fund. This increase will help
re-build the trust fund to the appropriate level. The additional
taxes paid as a result of the minimum safe level increase are
credited fifty percent (50%) to the mutualized account and fifty
percent (50%) to the employer's account.
The experience rate
shown on the Contribution Rate Determination is a combined
total of the employer's individual experience rate and the minimum
safe level increase.
Mutualized
Rate
The primary
purpose of the mutualized account is to maintain the unemployment
trust fund at a safe level and recover the costs of unemployment
benefits that are not chargeable to individual employers. These
costs are recovered and the money restored to the fund through the
mutualized tax levied on all contributory employers. The mutualized
tax is used solely for the payment of benefits. For calendar year
2019, the mutualized rate is 0.0%.
In June 2016, Governor Kasich signed HB 390 giving ODJFS the authority to pay off the remaining balance of the Federal Unemployment loan using state funds. To replenish the state loan, experienced rated employers paid an additional rate on their 2017 state unemployment quarterly reports. This additional rate (0.6%) was listed in the Mutual Rate portion of the 2017 rate notice.
New Employer
Rate
If an employer's
account is not eligible for an experience rate, the account will be
assigned a standard new employer rate of 2.7% unless the employer
is engaged in the construction industry, in which case the 2017 rate is 6.2%, the 2018 rate is 6.0% and the 2019 rate is 5.9%.
Delinquency
Rate
Employers who did not
furnish the wage information necessary for the computation of their
2019 experience rate by the time the 2019 rates were calculated, are assigned a
contribution rate equal to one hundred twenty-five percent (125%)
of the maximum experience rate possible for 2019. However, if the
employer files the necessary wage information by December 31, 2018,
the rate will be revised to the appropriate experience rate.
Penalty
Rate
Employers who file the
necessary wage information after December 31, 2018, but within 18
months after that date, will have their 2019 rate revised to one
hundred twenty percent (120%) of the rate that would have applied
if the employer had timely furnished the wage information.