News and Information

Gov. Ige Signs Bill to Roll Back Unemployment Tax Rate for Employers

HB1278 HD1, passed by the Hawaii Legislature last week, was signed into law as Act 1 by Governor David Ige on March 2, 2021, averting a steep increase in employers’ 2021-2022 contribution rate to the state Unemployment Compensation Trust Fund. The rate had been scheduled to increase to quadruple the current rate, effective March 6. Instead, the new law will allow businesses to pay on average less than half of what they had been scheduled to pay into the system:

• In 2021, the average Schedule H tax on employers would have been $1,800 per employee, per year. Act 1 reduces the average tax to $850– for a savings of $950 per employee per year.
• In 2022, the average tax would have been $1,670 per employee, per year. Act 1 reduces the average tax to $790 – for a savings of $880 per employee, per year.