IMPORTANT NOTICE TO WISCONSIN EMPLOYERS
Special Assessment to Fund Interest on Outstanding Federal Loans
Like more than 30 other states, Wisconsin’s unemployment insurance reserve fund had to rely on federal loans to help fund benefits to the record number of claimants during and since the recent recession. Although the federal government waived interest on its loans in 2009 and 2010, it began charging interest in 2011. Because employer unemployment taxes are restricted by the federal government to only paying benefits, Wisconsin’s unemployment insurance program (UI) issued a special assessment on employers to raise the necessary funds to pay the federal loan’s interest expense, as prescribed by statute. The UI reserve fund paid the first interest payment of $42.3 million on September 30, 2011. (read more)
