Department of Labor (DOL)

The Unemployment Insurance (UI) File Upload application allows employers to transmit quarterly tax and wage reports electronically to DOL. Employers can use output files from their existing accounting software package or third-party vendor software.

Prior to the application, employers could use one of three ways to submit their quarterly tax and wage reports. They could submit paper reports, which involves an inefficient, manual process. It’s also expensive to produce paper reports, and it takes up to 10 weeks for DOL to process them. Employers could use DOL’s Internet Tax and Wages application, but it’s designed for small businesses with up to 25 employees. A third option, especially for large employers, is the use of magnetic media, but it involves transmitting sensitive data in a highly insecure manner. In addition, DOL’s legacy system that processes magnetic media doesn’t notify a business when errors are encountered with its reports, and errors such as invalid file formats or invalid characters must be resolved manually.

UI File Upload allows employers to upload their wage file in .CSV or Excel format; then they are able to submit their tax report. One hour after the wage file is uploaded, employers receive an email notifying them whether the file was accepted or rejected. If the wage file is rejected, employers are directed to log in to an online system to view the errors. After viewing the errors, employers can make the necessary corrections within the app and resubmit the file, which results in cleaner data.

Thanks to the availability of UI File Upload, DOL saw an almost 40 percent reduction in the submission of magnetic media in 2017, and the number of employers using the new app totaled 2,143 by the end of the year. During the same period, the time required to process magnetic media dropped from up to 10 weeks to as little as three weeks. DOL expects to eventually eliminate all magnetic media processing, which will allow the department to decommission servers and eliminate legacy COBOL programs that are used to process magnetic media.