[Background image: Picture of Carly, a Customer Service Representative]
[Narrator speaks]
Hi, I’m Carly, a Customer Service Representative for the Minnesota Unemployment Insurance Program. In this video, I’ll cover the employer account registration process.
Before we start, it’s probably a good idea to go over some basics of Unemployment Insurance.
We’ll also take a minute to talk about who needs to register for an employer account and when. After I explain the registration process, I’ll let you know what to expect after you register.
[Narrator speaks]
The Unemployment Insurance Program is a federal law that is administered by the states. Each state operates its own program, but they all operate similarly.
[Narrator speaks]
Unemployment Insurance provides partial, temporary wage replacement to workers who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own.
Employers fund these benefit payments by paying an Unemployment Insurance tax.
[Narrator speaks]
Each employer’s tax rate is calculated separately, and is based on the ratio of benefits paid to the employer’s former employees to the wages the employer paid for the same period of time.
This is called your “experience rating.”
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Every quarter, you will pay an unemployment tax based on the wages you paid and your individual experience rating.
You must also submit a quarterly report to the Unemployment Insurance Program detailing each employee’s hours worked and wages earned. This quarterly report is called your “wage detail report.”
[Narrator speaks]
Not all employment is covered by Unemployment Insurance law. Almost all employment in
Minnesota is covered, but there are exceptions spelled out in the law.
Check the Resources at the end of this video for details about non-covered employment, along with other topics introduced in this video.
Most employers pay for covered employment through a quarterly Unemployment Insurance tax.
If you represent a for-profit business, you will pay the quarterly tax.
If your organization is a non-profit or a government entity, you pay a different way.
Instead of paying a quarterly tax, you will reimburse the Unemployment Insurance Program for each dollar of unemployment benefits paid to your former employees.
In this video, I’ll talk about registration for tax-paying employers.
If you need to register a non-profit or government entity, I suggest you call Customer Service for more information about registration.
[Narrator speaks]
If you have any employees in Minnesota, you probably have to register with the Unemployment Insurance Program.
This includes sole proprietors and partnerships that have employees, Limited Liability Companies,
S and C type corporations, all government entities and nearly all non-religious non-profits.
Farms and individuals who have employees working in their home may also have to register.
There are exceptions that you can learn about in the Resources section.
You may especially want to review this section if you have people working for you that you consider independent contractors rather than employees.
Whether an individual is an independent contractor or an employee is a matter of law.
A worker cannot simply agree to be an independent contractor if they are treated as an employee in all respects but in name.
[Narrator speaks]
For most employers, you need to complete the registration process by the time you first pay wages to employees.
Certain kinds of farm employment, along with certain kinds of employment provided to a
household, have a different threshold to meet before they register for an account.
[Narrator speaks]
In a moment, we’ll start going over the registration process. Usually the process is pretty straightforward, but it’s also not a “one size fits all” process.
We have to account for many different types of businesses—both large and small, new and established—doing business in many different ways.
When you register for an account, you’ll be asked a series of questions that help us get the right kind of information for your particular situation.
If you have questions, don’t hesitate to contact us for assistance. In the meantime, here’s an overall look at the registration process.
[Narrator speaks]
The easiest way to begin registering is to start at www.uimn.org, and click Employers & Agents.
On the employer page, under Register for an Account, click Employers. This will take you to the employer login page.
Since you haven’t registered yet, you won’t have a user ID or password. Click the link titled Employer Registration. This will take you to the first page of the registration process.
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The first page reminds you of the information you’ll need to complete your registration.
You’ll need to know what type of legal entity your business is: a sole proprietorship, partnership,
corporation, et cetera.
If the name you do business under is different than the official name of the business, you’ll need
to provide both names.
You’ll need your Federal Employer Identification Number and Minnesota Department of Revenue number and login information.
There are several dates you need: the date your business began, the date that employees first performed services, and the day you first paid wages to employees.
We’ll need information about all the owners of the business, including the percent ownership and their Social Security numbers.
Finally, we’ll need to know what product or service your business produces and the number of employees you have.
If you start the registration process and then realize you’re missing information, you can stop and come back later to complete it.
However, keep in mind that your registration is NOT complete until you’ve provided all the requested information.
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Most businesses that are registering either have, or shortly will, pay wages.
In some cases businesses need to register before actually issuing payments to employees. If you haven’t paid wages yet, there’s a drop-down that lets you tell us why you are registering now.
After this page, we’ll ask you some questions about who you are and your relationship to the business.
[Narrator speaks]
We need to know if you’ve already registered with the Minnesota Department of Revenue. If you have, select the correct option and provide the requested information.
If you have not yet registered with the Minnesota Department of Revenue, don’t have your
Department of Revenue user name or password, or if you are registered for income tax withholding in another state, select the second option and provide your Federal Employee ID Number.
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We’ll ask for your primary mailing address and other contact information. Some employers have multiple business locations.
At this point, we just need the main address where you want to receive correspondence related to registration. You can add other addresses later.
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Once we have your primary mailing address, we will create and display your Temporary User ID and Temporary User Password.
Your permanent user ID and password will be mailed to your primary address the day after you complete your registration.
Everything you have entered so far in the registration process has now been saved.
You could leave and log in at a later time with your temporary user ID and password to complete the rest of the registration.
It’s a good idea to write down both your temporary user ID and temporary password in case you need to log back in before you get your permanent user ID and password.
Remember to always keep your user ID and password safe and secure so that others cannot access your account without your permission.
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Following the creation of your temporary user ID and password, we’ll ask some questions about your business to help us understand how it’s structured and whether we’ll need any additional information.
[Narrator speaks]
Each employer account is assigned a System Administrator. The System Administrator will have access to ALL the information in your account.
This means they will be able to view information, make changes, complete transactions, and give online access to your account to others.
The person you choose as YOUR System Administrator should be a highly trusted employee.
Smaller employers and family-run businesses often choose to make one of the owners the System Administrator.
[Narrator speaks]
We’ll need information about the physical structure of your business. Some employers manage the business from one location, but do the actual work in another.
We need to know both where your headquarters is located and where the actual work in
Minnesota is done.
If you’re a contractor who performs your actual work at your clients’ locations, you do not need to list your clients’ locations.
For most small employers, your headquarters and physical location will be the same place. For larger employers, this can get more complicated.
[Narrator speaks]
After you’ve told us about your business addresses, we’ll ask about what industry you’re in.
You’ll select your industry in five steps starting with the broadest category and getting more specific at each step.
If your business has several different product lines, select the category that matches the largest actual or anticipated source of revenue for your business.
[Narrator speaks]
We’ll also need to know about all the owners or officers of your business.
Enter the information for the first one and click Save. A new blank page will then display so that you can add another owner or officer.
When added together, the percent each owner or officer owns must equal 100%.
Once you’ve entered all the owners or officers, click Next and you will be able to review all the ownership information you’ve added before you go on to the next step.
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After you’ve entered and confirmed all the owner/officer information, you’re almost done. The last step is simply to review and confirm your registration information.
If any of the information is incorrect, click the link for that section and make the correction.
If you do have to go back and make a correction, you’ll be guided through the registration process again from that point forward.
If everything is correct, read the Agreement of Terms at the bottom, check "Yes," and then click Submit.
[Narrator speaks]
After you confirm all the information you’ve provided, you will be presented with an electronic version of your Determination of Covered Employment.
We will also mail a copy to your business. The determination will provide your Unemployment Insurance Employer Account number and your tax rate.
Always read all documents we send you very carefully.
If you disagree with a determination or decision we make, you can appeal it, but your appeal must be filed in a timely manner to be considered.
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After you successfully register for your employer account, you will receive your Determination of Covered Employer Status with your permanent password in the mail.
By the end of January, April, July, and October of every year you will have to submit an electronic report of the wages you paid to each employee in the previous calendar quarter.
We call this “wage detail.” You’ll also have to pay your taxes on time each quarter.
[Narrator speaks]
Remember if you have employees in Minnesota, you probably have to register with the Unemployment Insurance Program.
This includes sole proprietors and partnerships, if they have employees; Limited Liability Companies, corporations; all governmental entities and nearly all non-religious non-profits.
Register for an account with the Minnesota Unemployment Insurance Program by the time you issue your first payroll.
Finally, registering online is fast and easy. To start the registration process, go to www.uimn.org, click Employers & Agents, and then Register for an Account.
[Narrator speaks]
If you have any questions or you need assistance, call Customer Service. Thank you for watching; I hope you’ve found this video helpful in understanding the employer account registration process.
[Screen text: Call Customer Service: 651-296-6141, Press 4 to speak to a representative | Links for more information: Covered and Noncovered Employment, Agricultural Employment, Domestic (Household) Employees, Independent Contractors, New Employer Registration (including information needed to register), Video Library]
