As the holidays approach and the year winds down, the tendency is to clock out and put off less urgent tasks until the New Year. However, if you buckle down now you can ring in the New Year knowing you are prepared to tackle anything that is thrown your way come January 1.

Here are some things you should do before December 31st that will make your life a lot easier in 2016:

Review Your UI Tax Rate Notice
Ensure the numbers used to calculate your rate are correct. Mistakes like this happen more frequently than you might think and are often overlooked by employers. Avoid overpaying by keeping all of your documents, including your new tax rate notice, in one place. Our software can help you keep track with centralized data storage on one user-friendly dashboard.

Input Wage Base and Tax Rate Information
Update state unemployment, state disability and Social Security wage base and tax rate information using the latest wage base and tax rate table.

Review State Regulations
Brush up on existing state regulations related to unemployment insurance tax rates. Be aware of any new laws in your state. We do the heavy lifting for our clients and keep our software compliant with all state and federal regulations.

One more thing you should be aware of in 2016: Unemployment Insurance (UI) SIDES. UI SIDES is an online tool designed to help employers respond to state unemployment insurance requests quickly, easily and accurately. Employers are currently battling with the cost of mailing in claims, tight deadlines and inconsistency across forms. By using an electronic platform to exchange information, UI SIDES provides more timely responses, increases staff productivity and creates a national standard for data entry. We’ll be integrating SIDES functionality in the months ahead.

We will have more on this subject in January. Check back on our blog for more information about the benefits of UI SIDES and how you can leverage this development to save your company time and money.

Here’s to the New Year! If we can be of help to you in finding creative solutions to your UI insurance challenges please don’t hesitate to reach out. If you have questions about your UI tax rate, or other unemployment insurance matters as you prepare to close out the year, contact us today.