Changes to wage report and contribution payment schedule and corresponding fees

SF2424 codifies the changes previously announced in Employer Bulletin 2007-3 addressing I-Que:

1.  The minimum fee for late payment of contributions will increase from $10 to $20.

2.  All employers must pay contributions monthly. Most employers already pay contributions monthly. However, there had been an exception in the law allowing smaller employers to pay less often. All employers will now pay their bills on the same schedule.

Other changes to employer reporting and fees that are effective July 1 did not require a law change. These changes were made through administrative rules:

1.  All employers must report wages monthly. Wage reports and contributions will now be due on the same schedule.

2.  The manual processing fee for added costs when employers do not process their wage reports using I-Que’s online employer self-service will be $20 plus $.25 per employee. This fee is intended to cover the cost of IPERS’ additional staff time and of mailing paper statements and forms to employers.

3.  The fee for a late wage report will be $20 plus $.25 per employee. This fee will also be charged to employers with no wages to report if they did not notify IPERS by the report’s due date that they had no wages to report.

4.  Wage adjustments will generate charges for the employer and employee contributions that are due, as well as interest on both the employer and employee contributions. Interest will be calculated and charged to the employer in one lump sum since, by law, it must be paid by the employer. If the contributions and interest resulting from the adjustment are paid by the due date of the statement in which they are billed to the employer, there will be no additional interest due for the adjustment. A manual processing fee will not be charged for wage adjustments.

5.  All items billed to employers will have a due date. Interest will be assigned to outstanding balances not paid in full by the statement due date until the balance is paid in full.

For additional information about I-Que, see the article in this newsletter.