September 16, 2015, Introduced by Senator HORN and referred to the Committee on Economic Development and International Investment.
A bill to amend 1936 (Ex Sess) PA 1, entitled
"Michigan employment security act,"
by amending section 44 (MCL 421.44), as amended by 2011 PA 269.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:
Sec. 44. (1) "Remuneration" means all compensation paid for
personal services, including commissions and bonuses, and except
for agricultural and domestic services, the cash value of all
compensation payable in a medium other than cash. Any remuneration
payable to an individual that has not been actually received by
that individual within 21 days after the end of the pay period in
which the remuneration was earned, shall, for the purposes of
subsections (2) to (5) and section 46, be considered to have been
paid
on the twenty-first day after the end of that pay period. For
benefit
years beginning on or after October 1, 2000, if If back
pay
is awarded to an individual and is allocated by an employer or
legal authority to a period of weeks within 1 or more calendar
quarters, the back pay shall be considered paid in that calendar
quarter or those calendar quarters for purposes of section 46. The
reasonable cash value of compensation payable in a medium other
than cash shall be estimated and determined in accordance with
rules
promulgated by the unemployment agency. Beginning January 1,
1986,
remuneration shall include Remuneration
includes tips
actually reported to an employer under section 6053(a) of the
internal revenue code, 26 USC 6053(a), by an employee who receives
tip income. Remuneration does not include either of the following:
(a) Money paid an individual by a unit of government for
services
rendered as a member of the national guard National Guard
of this state, or for similar services to another state or the
United States.
(b) Money paid by an employer to a worker under a supplemental
unemployment benefit plan consistent with the criteria for a
supplemental
unemployment benefit plan as described in internal
revenue
service Internal Revenue
Service publication 15-A,
employer's supplemental tax guide, regardless of whether the
benefits are paid from a trust or by the employer.
(2) "Wages", subject to subsections (3) to (5), means
remuneration
paid by employers for employment and
, beginning
January
1, 1986, includes tips actually
reported to an employer
under section 6053(a) of the internal revenue code, 26 USC 6053(a),
by an employee who receives tip income. If any provision of this
subsection prevents this state from qualifying for any federal
interest relief provisions provided under section 1202 of title XII
of the social security act, 42 USC 1322, or prevents employers in
this state from qualifying for the limitation on the reduction of
federal unemployment tax act credits as provided under section
3302(f) of the federal unemployment tax act, 26 USC 3302, that
provision is invalid to the extent necessary to maintain
qualification for the interest relief provisions and federal
unemployment tax credits.
(3) For the purpose of determining the amount of contributions
due
from an employer under this act, wages shall be are limited
by
the taxable wage limit applicable under subsection (4). For this
purpose,
wages shall exclude all remuneration paid within a
calendar
year an employing unit pays to an individual by an
employing
unit after the individual was paid within that year by
that
employing unit remuneration equal to that exceeds the taxable
wage limit on which unemployment taxes were paid or were payable in
this state and in any other states for that employee by the
employing
unit within that year. If an a successor employing unit ,
hereinafter
referred to as successor, during any calendar year
becomes a transferee during a calendar year in a transfer of
business, as
defined in section 22, of another, hereinafter
referred
to as a predecessor , employing unit and immediately after
the transfer employs in his or her trade or business an individual
who immediately before the transfer was employed in the trade or
business of the predecessor, then for the purpose of determining
whether the successor has paid remuneration with respect to
employment equal to the taxable wage limit to that individual
during the calendar year, any remuneration with respect to
employment paid to that individual by the predecessor during the
calendar year and before the transfer shall be considered as having
been paid by the successor.
(4)
The taxable wage limit for each calendar year is $8,000.00
in
the 1983 calendar year, $8,500.00 in the 1984 calendar year,
$9,000.00
in the 1985 calendar year, $9,500.00
in the calendar
years 1986 through 2002, and $9,000.00 for calendar years after
2002 and before 2012, or the maximum amount of remuneration paid
within a calendar year by an employer subject to the federal
unemployment tax act, 26 USC 3301 to 3311, to an individual with
respect to employment as defined in that act that is subject to tax
under that act during that year for each calendar year, whichever
is greater. For calendar years beginning 2012, the taxable wage
limit is $9,500.00, but if at the beginning of a calendar quarter
the balance in the unemployment compensation fund equals or exceeds
$2,500,000,000.00 and the agency projects that the balance will
remain at or above $2,500,000,000.00 for the remainder of the
calendar quarter and for the entire succeeding calendar quarter,
the taxable wage limit for that calendar quarter and the succeeding
calendar quarter is $9,000.00 for an employer that is not
delinquent in the payment of unemployment contributions, penalties,
or interest. For calendar years beginning 2016, if on June 30 of
the current year the balance in the unemployment compensation fund
equals or exceeds $2,500,000,000.00 and the agency projects that
the balance will remain at or above $2,500,000,000.00 for the
entire succeeding calendar quarter, the taxable wage limit
beginning in the next calendar year is $9,000.00 for an employer
that is not delinquent in the payment of unemployment
contributions, penalties, or interest and that timely files
electronic reports as required under section 13(2). If the
unemployment compensation fund balance is less than
$2,500,000,000.00 on June 30 of any year in which the $9,000.00
taxable wage limit is in effect for nondelinquent employers, the
unemployment agency shall provide notice to employers that the
reduced wage base exception to the taxable wage limit of $9,500.00
will no longer be in effect as of January 1 of the following year.
For purposes of this subsection, an employer is delinquent in the
payment of unemployment contribution, penalties, or interest if the
employer has a quarterly unpaid balance of $25.00 or more, unless 1
or more of the following apply:
(a) The employer has filed a timely protest or appeal of the
notice of assessment and the assessment has not become final.
(b) Within 45 days after the beginning of the first calendar
quarter in which the reduced taxable wage base limit takes effect
for nondelinquent employers, all outstanding balances owed to the
unemployment agency are paid in full.
(c) If the employer is a domestic employer, all applicable
contributions, interest, and penalties are paid on or before the
date specified by the agency under section 13(1).
(5)
For the purposes of this act, the term "wages" shall does
not include any of the following:
(a) The amount of a payment, including an amount paid by an
employer for insurance or annuities or into a fund, to provide for
such a payment, made to, or on behalf of, an employee or any of the
employee's dependents under a plan or system established by an
employer that makes provision for the employer's employees
generally, or for the employer's employees generally and their
dependents, or for a class or classes of the employer's employees,
or for a class or classes of the employer's employees and their
dependents, on account of retirement, sickness or accident
disability, medical or hospitalization expenses in connection with
sickness or accident disability, or death.
(b) A payment made to an employee, including an amount paid by
an employer for insurance or annuities, or into a fund, to provide
for such a payment, on account of retirement.
(c) A payment on account of sickness or accident disability,
or medical or hospitalization expenses in connection with sickness
or accident disability, made by an employer to, or on behalf of, an
employee after the expiration of 6 calendar months following the
last calendar month in which the employee worked for the employer.
(d) A payment made to, or on behalf of, an employee or the
employee's beneficiary from or to a trust described in section
401(a) of the internal revenue code of 1986, 26 USC 401(a), that is
exempt from tax under section 501(a) of the internal revenue code
of 1986, 26 USC 501(a), at the time of the payment, unless the
payment is made to an employee of the trust as remuneration for
services rendered as an employee and not as a beneficiary of the
trust, or under or to an annuity plan which, at the time of the
payment, is a plan described in section 403(a) of the internal
revenue code of 1986, 26 USC 403(a), or under or to a bond purchase
plan that at the time of the payment, is a qualified bond purchase
plan described in former section 405(a) of the internal revenue
code.
(e) The payment by an employer, without deduction from the
remuneration of the employee, of the tax imposed upon an employee
under section 3101 of the federal insurance contributions act, 26
USC 3101.
(f) Remuneration paid in any medium other than cash to an
employee for service not in the course of the employer's trade or
business.
(g) A payment, other than vacation or sick pay, made to an
employee after the month in which the employee attains the age of
65, if the employee did not work for the employer in the period for
which the payment is made.
(h) Remuneration paid to or on behalf of an employee as moving
expenses if, and to the extent that, at the time of payment of the
remuneration it is reasonable to believe that a corresponding
deduction is allowable under section 217 of the internal revenue
code of 1986, 26 USC 217.
(6)
The amendments made to this section by amendatory act 1977
PA
155 apply to all remuneration paid after December 31, 1977.
(7)
The amendments made in subsection (1) by the amendatory
act
that added this subsection shall first apply to remuneration
paid
after December 31, 1977.