California Employer News and 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 an immediate 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 a vital role in the success of both the New Employee Reporting and Independent Contractor Reporting programs. California matches Independent Contractor Reporting and New Employee Registry reports against child support records to help locate parents in order to establish wage withholding orders or enforce existing orders. The information is also sent to the National Directory of New Hires to locate delinquent child support debtors 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 are required by law to 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 start-of-work date, .

As part of the Independent Contractor Reporting (ICR) program, you are required to report independent contractor information to the EDD if you hire an independent contractor and all the following conditions apply:

• You 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 or sole proprietorship.

For more information on the new hire and independent contractor programs or the reporting requirements, please visit edd.ca.gov/Payroll_Taxes/Reporting_Requirements.htm.

For information on how to make payments to the California State Disbursement Unit, please visit childsupport.ca.gov/state-disbursement-unit/.

We‘ve updated our online services for employers for improved usability and added security.  The following are the enhancements we’ve made:

• Employer Services Online:
  • Redesigned with a new look and feel for an improved flow and design.
  • 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:
  • Enhanced the security questions for employer account access to protect your account from unauthorized access.

To better assist you 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 removes the taxable wage limit and maximum withholdings 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.