Benefit Charge Information

Topics:

Unemployment
Business Engagement

Unemployment Insurance (UI) Benefit Charges are charges to an employer’s account for UI tax rate computation purposes that represent UI benefit payments made to former employees.

CHARGING EMPLOYER ACCOUNTS FOR UI BENEFITS PAID

UI benefits paid on a UI claim are generally charged to the accounts of the claimant’s base period employers in the inverse chronological order of employment. This means that the most recent base period employer’s UI tax account is charged first with UI benefits paid until wage credits are exhausted, after which charges go to the next most recent employer and so on.

The base period is a four quarter (one year) time frame using the first four of the last five completed calendar quarters at the time an initial UI claim is filed.  The diagram below identifies how to determine the base period.  For additional information, please refer to the Unemployment Insurance Benefits Handbook. 

NOTIFICATION OF BENEFIT CHARGES

Employers are initially notified at the time a UI claim for benefits is filed of potential charges against their UI tax account and are given the right to protest the UI claim at that time.

Within 40 days after the close of each calendar quarter, Iowa Workforce Development (IWD) sends to each contributory employer a notice of the UI benefits charged to the employer’s UI tax account, Statement of Charges (Form 65-5307).

Employers are given 30 days from the date the Statement of Charges was mailed to file an appeal of any charges shown on the statement.

FILING AN APPEAL

STATEMENT OF CHARGES APPEAL

All appeals of UI benefit charges listed on a Statement of Charges must mention the form and contain the following information:

  • name
  • legal Business Name or Doing Business As (DBA) name
  • Iowa UI tax account number
  • name and social security number of the claimant
  • date of the claim as listed on the Statement of Charges
  • separation date
  • reason for the separation
  • grounds for the appeal

Some grounds for an appeal include but are not limited to:

  • If you have received a previous decision stating that your account will not be charged. (It is not grounds for an appeal of a Statement of Charges, if you have received a previous decision allowing the payment of benefits.)
  • If this is the first notification you received that a UI claim was filed.
  • If there is another appeal pending that is related to the charges on the statement.
  • If the UI benefit charges are not otherwise valid or correct.

YEARLY TAX RATE NOTICE APPEAL

UI benefit charges to an employer’s UI tax account before July 1 are used in the computation of the rate for the following calendar year even if the charges have been reversed since July 1. To have UI benefit charges removed from the rate computation, an employer must file a timely appeal of any UI Tax rate notice that includes the charges to prevent the rate from becoming final.

This is a separate appeal and must be submitted in writing to the UI Tax Bureau. For more information refer to Information on Rate Computations for Private Employers.

CONTACTING IOWA WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT

You can obtain additional information about a Statement of Charges or file an appeal by email or US mail.

EMAIL

If the last two digits of your Iowa UI tax account number are:

CORRESPONDENCE MAY BE MAILED TO: 

Iowa Workforce Development
Chargeback Unit
1000 E Grand Ave
Des Moines, IA 50319-0209
Fax: 515-242-5247