EXPEDITED ADOPTION
Title of Rule: Joint accounts.
Purpose: To set forth the criteria for the reporting of joint accounts for unemployment insurance tax purposes.
Statutory Authority for Adoption: Chapter 50.12 RCW.
Statute Being Implemented: Portion of RCW 50.24.170.
Summary: To revise the rule to promote clarity and delete archaic language. This rule is being rewritten and renumbered with recent mandates from the state legislature and the governor's office requiring the deletion of language that is hard to understand and to clarify the intent of a rule. Adds our limitation for common paymaster from the status manual for employer liability.
Reasons Supporting Proposal: This rule is being amended in compliance with Governor Locke's Executive Order 97-02.
Name of Agency Personnel Responsible for Drafting: George Mante, 212 Maple Park, Olympia, WA, (360) 902-9642; Implementation and Enforcement: Dale Ziegler, 212 Maple Park, Olympia, WA, (360) 902-9303.
Name of Proponent: Employment Security Department, UI Division, UI Tax Administration, P.O. Box 9046, Olympia, WA 98507-9046, governmental.
Rule is not necessitated by federal law, federal or state court decision.
Explanation of Rule, its Purpose, and Anticipated Effects: This rule clarifies archaic language and complies with Governor Locke's Executive Order 97-02. This rule should read better to the general public. It establishes how employers are to report and form joint accounts.
Proposal Changes the Following Existing Rules: The existing rule is repealed. The new
rule is being renumbered in accordance with Executive Order 97-02. The department's new
numbering system has been used. We have added the limitation on common paymasters for
public information from the status manual. This does not change existing policy and should
assist in clarification of the rule.
THIS RULE IS BEING PROPOSED TO BE ADOPTED USING AN EXPEDITED RULE-MAKING PROCESS THAT WILL ELIMINATE THE NEED FOR THE AGENCY TO HOLD PUBLIC HEARINGS, PREPARE A SMALL BUSINESS ECONOMIC IMPACT STATEMENT, OR PROVIDE RESPONSES TO THE CRITERIA FOR A SIGNIFICANT LEGISLATIVE RULE. IF YOU OBJECT TO THIS RULE BEING ADOPTED USING THE EXPEDITED RULE-MAKING PROCESS, YOU MUST EXPRESS YOUR OBJECTIONS IN WRITING AND THEY MUST BE SENT TO George Mante, Employment Security Department, UI Tax Administration, P.O. Box 9046, Olympia, WA 98507-9046 , AND RECEIVED BY August 21, 1999.
June 9, 1999
Carver Gayton
Commissioner
Relates to RCW 50.24.170.
(1) Any two or more employers may form joint accounts (consolidate) for the purposes of reporting and dealing with the unemployment insurance division of the department.
(2) Joint accounts must be acceptable to the department and cannot:
(i) impair any obligation by these employers to the unemployment insurance division;
(ii) interfere with the payment of benefits to workers;
(iii) result in any administrative inconvenience to the division; or
(iv) allow an employer to receive an experience rate to which it was not entitled.
(3) Joint accounts must provide for the maintenance of all records necessary under the Employment Security Act.
(4) Joint accounts may not be formed until the department has approved the plan of consolidation, in writing.
(5) A joint account should never be confused with a common paymaster. A common paymaster is an independent third party who contracts with, and represents, two or more employers; and who files a combined tax report for those employers. Common paymaster does not meet the department's definition of a joint account. We do not allow this type of reporting.
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The following sections of the Washington Administrative Code are repealed:
| WAC 192-12-060 | Joint accounts. |
Reviser's note: The typographical error in the above section occurred in the copy filed by the agency and appears in the Register pursuant to the requirements of RCW 34.08.040.