California Employer News and Updates
Find the latest tax news, annual updates, and resources to support you and your business.
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Payroll Tax News
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December 2024
- Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) Awareness Day is January 31, 2025 (December 27, 2024)
- Statewide – Current Emergency and Disaster Assistance for Employers (December 18, 2024)
- Multiple Counties – Current Emergency and Disaster Assistance for Employers (December 9, 2024)
November 2024
- Federal Unemployment Tax Act (FUTA) Information for Wages Employers Paid in 2024 (November 19, 2024)
- Ventura County – Current Emergency and Disaster Assistance for Employers (November 7, 2024)
- City of Oceanside – Current Emergency and Disaster Assistance for Employers (November 1, 2024)
- Sierra County – Current Emergency and Disaster Assistance for Employers (November 1, 2024)
- Siskiyou County – Current Emergency and Disaster Assistance for Employers (November 1, 2024)
- Interest Rate Announced: The interest rate charged on all delinquent taxes for the period of January 1, 2025, through June 30, 2025, will be 8%. (November 1, 2024)
- Visit the Rates and Withholding page for the 2025 UI, ETT, and SDI Rates, CA Withholding Schedules, and Taxable Values of Meals and Lodging (November 1, 2024)
September 2024
- Lake County – Current Emergency and Disaster Assistance for Employers (September 30, 2024)
- Multiple Counties – Current Emergency and Disaster Assistance for Employers (September 11, 2024)
- San Bernardino County – Current Emergency and Disaster Assistance for Employers (September 9, 2024)
- City of Rancho Palos Verdes – Current Emergency and Disaster Assistance for Employers (September 3, 2024)
July 2024
- Kern County – Current Emergency and Disaster Assistance for Employers (July 30, 2024)
- Multiple Counties – Current Emergency and Disaster Assistance for Employers (July 26, 2024)
- Butte County – Current Emergency and Disaster Assistance for Employers (July 3, 2024)
June 2024
May 2024
April 2024
March 2024
February 2024
January 2024
November 2023
October 2023
August 2023
- Multiple Counties - Current Emergency and Disaster Assistance for Employers (August 31, 2023)
- Multiple Counties - Current Emergency and Disaster Assistance for Employers (August 21, 2023)
May 2023
April 2023
March 2023
- Interest Rate Announced: The interest rate charged on all delinquent taxes for the period of July 1, 2023, through December 31, 2023, will be 7%. (March 23, 2023)
- Multiple Counties – Current Emergency and Disaster Assistance for Employers (March 12, 2023)
- Multiple Counties – Current Emergency and Disaster Assistance for Employers (March 8, 2023)
- Multiple Counties – Current Emergency and Disaster Assistance for Employers (March 1, 2023)
January 2023
December 2022
- Humboldt County – Current Emergency and Disaster Assistance for Employers (December 20, 2022)
- The 2023 California Employer’s Guide (DE 44) is now available online (December 14, 2022)
- The 2023 Household Employer’s Guide (DE 8829) is now available online (December 14, 2022)
- Visit the Rates and Withholding page for the 2022 UI, ETT, and SDI Rates, CA Withholding Schedules, and Taxable Values of Meals and Lodging (December 1, 2022)
October 2022
- Federal Unemployment Tax Act (FUTA) Information for Wages Employers Paid in 2022 (October 27, 2022)
- Interest Rate Announced: The interest rate charged on all delinquent taxes for the period of January 1, 2023, through June 30, 2023, will be 5%. (October 19, 2022)
September 2022
- Madera, Modoc, and Siskiyou Counties – Current Emergency and Disaster Assistance for Employers (September 19, 2022)
- Riverside, El Dorado, and Placer Counties – Current Emergency and Disaster Assistance for Employers (September 9, 2022)
- Siskiyou County – Current Emergency and Disaster Assistance for Employers (September 7, 2022)
August 2022
July 2022
- Mariposa Country – Current Emergency and Disaster Assistance for Employers (July 23, 2022)
- Monterey County – Current Emergency and Disaster Assistance for Employers (July 1, 2022)
- Santa Barbara County – Current Emergency and Disaster Assistance for Employers (July 1, 2022)
June 2022
March 2022
January 2022
Employer Updates
Your 2025 Notice of Contribution Rates and Statement of Unemployment Insurance (UI) Reserve Account (DE 2088) will be mailed by December 31, 2024. Review the DE 2088 for your 2025 tax rates and UI reserve account activity. The DE 2088 also notifies employers if they are subject to ETT.
For 2025, the UI taxable wage limit and the Employment Training Tax (ETT) taxable wage limit is $7,000 per employee. The ETT rate will remain at 0.1 percent (.001).
See the reverse side of your DE 2088 for more information about the DE 2088 and your protest rights. You can also refer to the Explanation of the Notice of Contribution Rates and Statement of UI Reserve Account (DE 2088) for the Period Shown on Your DE 2088 (DE 2088C).
To get specific rate information, change your address, or update your agent, go to e-Services for Business or call the department at 1-888-745-3886.
Did you know you can submit a benefit charge or UI rate protest online? We encourage you to take advantage of our e-Services for Business protest feature. It’s a quick, safe, and easy way to file your protest and receive a confirmation.
You can submit the following types of protests:
Benefit Charge
- Statement of Charges to Reserve Account (DE 428T)
- Statement of Reimbursable Benefit Charges (DE 428R)
- School Employees Fund Employer Statement of Benefit Charges (DE 428F)
UI Rate
- Notice of Contribution Rates and Statement of UI Reserve Account (DE 2088)
For more information, visit the e-Services for Business FAQs.
As an employer, you play an important role in the success of the New Employee Reporting and Independent Contractor Reporting programs. These reports are checked against child support records. This helps locate parents so that wage withholding orders can be set up or to enforce existing orders. The information is also sent to the National Directory of New Hires to find parents who owe child support in other states. Nearly 30 percent of child support cases involve parents who do not live in the same state as their children.
As part of the New Employee Registry (NER) program, all employers must report new hires, or employee(s) rehired after a separation of 60 consecutive days, to the Employment Development Department (EDD) within 20 days of their first day of work.
As part of the Independent Contractor Reporting (ICR) program, you must report information about independent contractors to the EDD if you hire an independent contractor and all the following conditions apply:
- You have filed or are required to file a Form 1099-MISC or 1099-NEC for the services performed by the independent contractor.
- You pay the independent contractor $600 or more or enter into a contract for $600 or more.
- The independent contractor is an individual, sole proprietor, or single- member LLC.
For more information on the new hire and independent contractor programs or the reporting requirements, please visit Reporting Requirements.
For information on how to make child support payments to the California State Disbursement Unit, please visit childsupport.ca.gov/state-disbursement-unit/.
We‘ve updated our online services for employers so that it is easier to use and more secure than ever before:
- Employer Services Online:
- A new design that makes it easier to navigate.
- Added a new password indicator feature to let you know in real time if you meet the requirements for creating a secure password.
- e-Services for Business:
- Improved the security questions to help protect your account from unauthorized access.
To help with these changes, we’ve updated our enroll as an employer and enroll as representative webpages that include step by step instructions for enrolling in e-Services for Business. You can also view our e-Services for Business tutorials for further guidance.
Effective January 1, 2024, Senate Bill (SB) 951 removed the taxable wage limit and maximum withholding for each employee subject to State Disability Insurance (SDI) contributions. The SDI rate for 2024 is 1.1%, for more information visit Rates and Withholding.