Unemployment Insurance Tax Rate Won’t Go Up in 2022

South Carolina’s unemployment insurance tax rates for employers will decrease or remain unchanged for 2022.

Joined by leaders in the business community, Gov. Henry McMaster and S.C. Department of Employment and Workforce Executive Director Dan Ellzey announced yesterday that they would not need to raise any rates after the General Assembly used COVID relief funds to replenish the state’s Unemployment Insurance (UI) Trust Fund.

The UI fund now has a balance of approximately $1.19 billion, which allowed the state to avoid federal loans and interest payments. As a result, the state will set tax year 2022 rates to raise approximately the same revenue as 2021 and 2020. The state will also not require any solvency surcharge due to the sufficiently high trust fund balance.

Tax rate notices will be mailed to businesses on Friday, November 12, but employers can log into their State Unemployment Insurance Tax System (SUITS) account beginning Nov. 5 to see their 2022 tax rate. A guide showing how to access this rate can be found here. Click here to view the 2022 tax rate chart.

Read news coverage of the announcement here.