Missing an unemployment filing could cost Alaska employers five times as much

An Alaska employer who misses an unemployment insurance filing could pay $2,927 per worker in state unemployment tax next year instead of $542.

The state normally sets an employer's rate by its own history of layoffs, and the lowest rate is 1 percent. Employers who fall out of good standing get charged the penalty rate of 5.40 percent instead, applied to the first $54,200 of each employee's wages.

Two things trigger it: a missing quarterly contribution report, or owing $100 or more for any quarter in the period the state uses to set rates, which runs through the end of June.

The Labor Department told employers not to assume a payroll company or bookkeeper filed on their behalf, and to verify it themselves through the state's online tax system.

Employers who cannot pay what they owe can ask the department about a deferred payment plan, which the state says may keep the penalty rate from applying. Third quarter reports and payments are due Oct. 31.