UNEMPLOYMENT
INSURANCE / SOCIAL SECURITY
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The state's wage payment and collection law is amended to allow employers to pay wages, salary, commissions or other compensation by direct deposit or electronic transfer of immediately available funds into an employee’s payroll card account in a federally insured institution. Payment of employee compensation by means of a payroll card must be agreed upon in writing by both the employer and the employee. (H.B. 4032, Laws 2008, approved March 31, 2008, effective June 6, 2008.) Read the story at Payroll Management Daily Document ¶3327aa.
The IRS has issued final regulations on Code Sec. 937(b) for determining whether income is either (1) derived from sources within a U.S. possession or territory, or (2) effectively connected to the conduct of a trade or business within a territory (territory ECI). The final regulations provide greater flexibility in applying the principles of Code Sec. 861 through Code Sec. 865, permitting additional substitutions beyond those described in Reg. §1.937-2(b) whenever necessary to accomplish the intent of Code Sec. 937(b). However, a limitation rule is also included, requiring that in no event will a bona fide territorial resident have (through the application of the principles of the U.S. source rules) more income from sources within the territory than would a similarly situated U.S. person (not a bona fide territorial resident) under the U.S. source rules. The limitation rule applies similarly to both territory ECI and territory source income. Taxpayers may elect to apply these rules retroactively to any open tax years ending after October 22, 2004. The complete story is found at Payroll Management Daily Document ¶3326aa.
Foreign students who have studied science, technology, engineering or mathematics will be allowed to stay in the country for an additional 17 months if they are working for employers that participate in the E-Verify program, a government Internet system used to determine the eligibility of new employees to work in the United States. Under an interim final rule announced by the Homeland Security Department, qualified nonimmigrant students with F-1 student visas can participate in Optional Practical Training (OPT)--a temporary employment program--for 29 months, up from 12 months. The rule would give extra time to foreign students working in the area of their study to obtain H-1B temporary worker visas.
Comments are invited and are due on or before June 9, 2008. Comments should be identified with Department of Homeland Security Docket Number ICEB-2008-0002, and may be submitted using one of the following methods: Federal Rulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the instructions for submitting comments; Mail: Office of Policy, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Department of Homeland Security, 425 I Street NW, Room 7257, Washington, DC 20536. Hand Delivery Courier: The address for sending comments by hand delivery or courier is the same as that for submitting comments by mail. Contact telephone number is (202) 514-8693. Facsimile: Comments may be submitted by facsimile at (866) 466-5370. (Department of Homeland Security Final Rule, DHS No. ICEB-2008-0002, effective April 8, 2008; 73 FR 18,944, April 8, 2008.) Details can be found at Payroll Management Daily Document ¶3325aa.
Montana has amended its regulations under the Unemployment Compensation Law as follows:
Inactive claim. Claimants can now reactivate inactive claims through the department's Internet claims application.
Eligibility. A claimant will now be considered to be seeking work if he or she is not incarcerated for more than two days in a benefit week if those days are normal work days in the claimant's occupation or in a suitable occupation as determined by the department.
Employee expenses. Reimbursement for mileage can now be at a rate not greater than that allowed by the preceding year. Prior regulations required that reimbursement be at a rate no greater than the rate allowed for the current year. The regulations also now specify that one of the conditions required to find that reimbursed expenses are not wages is that the reimbursement is not deducted from the employee's wages. Prior regulations only specified that the reimbursement must not be based on a percentage of the employee's wages.
Local government experience rating. The rate schedule used by government entities after July 1, 2008, has been added. Assessments are made at the rate of .09; of total quarterly wages and range from .06% to 1.46%. Read, CCH Unemployment Insurance with Social Security Daily Document ¶12,532.
Unemployment Insurance Reporter with Social Security provides in-depth coverage of federal and state laws and regulations, including Unemployment Insurance, Social Security, Supplemental Security Income, and Disability. With all the facts and data about taxes and benefits under major subject categories, and expert “plain English” explanations, analyses and indexes, there is no other product that offers the same scope of coverage.
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