Eligible Massachusetts employers can choose to pay additional voluntary contributions in order to lower their experience rating and reduce their unemployment insurance (UI) contributions for the forthcoming year.
A voluntary contribution can be enough to reduce your rate:
- To the next lowest rate
- To the lowest rate on the rate table currently in effect, or
- Any rate in between
Determine your company's eligibility
Not all Massachusetts employers can participate in making voluntary contributions. To meet the eligibility requirements for making voluntary contributions, employers must:
- Be eligible for experience rating
- File all quarterly employment and wage detail reports to date
- Pay all contributions, interest, surcharges and penalties to date
Employers that are not eligible to make voluntary contributions:
- New employers (until they become eligible for experience rating, which is a calculated UI rate rather than an assigned rate)
- Employers who are at the lowest rate of the schedule in effect for the current calendar year
- Employers who are delinquent in filing or paying their contributions, interest surcharges or penalties
- Governmental employers
- Suspended or ceased accounts
- Employers with no wages for all 3 yearly "annual wages subject to computation" periods on their rate notice
If your company has any unpaid obligations to DUA, you may file any outstanding reports, pay the amount owed, and then choose to pay voluntary contributions. This must all be completed by a specific due date each year. Any outstanding debt must be paid separately and cannot be included with your contributions payment.
Additional Resources
Voluntary contribution payment options
DUA encourages you to review the voluntary contribution payment options available within your UI Online account. The payment options allow you to select a variety of rates available to you, and will provide you with the contribution amount necessary in order to secure the lower tax rates for your company.
To view your voluntary contribution payment options:
- Log in to your UI Online account.
- Select the Account Maintenance menu option.
- Select Voluntary Contribution.
- The screen will display all the next lowest rates available to you, along with the voluntary payment required to achieve each of those rates.
Please note that the only payment method available for voluntary contributions is ACH Debit. ACH Credit and paper check methods cannot be used to pay voluntary contributions.