Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1942-04-02
Payroll Taxes
May Be Revised
Now in Virginia
Smaller Employers,
Workers Aided by
Assembly Changes
By the Associated Press.

By the Associated Press
RICHMOND Va, April 2.-Payroll
taxes of employees subject to the Vir-
GINA Unemployment Compensation
Act whose payrolls are less than s10,-
900 a year may be revised under an
amendment to the law passed by
the recent session of the General As
semhly.
Under the "merit-rating" law
passed in 1910, employers with less
than $4,000 payrolls were grouped
as one for purposes Of determining
the rate Of the tax they were to pay,
now approximately 2 per cent.
The amendment by the 1912 Leg
islature eliminates the grouping OF
the smaller employers and provides
for the taxing of each employer
upon the basis of his own experience.
This means that the rate may vary
from to 81 per cent for each small
employer, the same as for the COM
panies with large payrolls.
Supreme Court Rule Changed.
Another important change in the
old law provides for appeals to the
Supreme Court of Virginia from la
Dor disputes decisions and liability
for taxes, regardless of the amount
involved in any one benefit claim.
This will avoid a recurrence Of the
situation that developed in 1940-l
when the Supreme Court dismissed
for lack of jurisdiction appeals Of
Southwest Virginia miners from q
Tazewell Circuit Court decree deny
ing them benefits for the period OF
the 1899 miners strike.
Justice c. Vernon Spratley, in the
opinion in the case, said that
amounts involved were less than
$500 and that under existing law the
Supreme Court could not assume
jurisdiction.
The changes made by the recent
Legislature became effective yester-
day under an emergency clause.
Other important revisions raised the
minimum unemployment benefits
from So to 81 week and reduced
the waiting period for benefits from
two weeks to one week.
May Make Agreements.
The unemployment compensation
commissioner now also is authorized
10 enter into reciprocal agreements
with other States for the purpose
of concentrating the earnings OF
interstate employees in one State so
as to simplify the reporting of pay
rolls and payment of contributions
with respect to interstate employees.
A principal contractor hereafter
will be relieved from liability for
payment of taxes on the employees of
subcontractors and the liability
transferred to the subcontractors.
Benefit rights of individuals in
Quoted into military service subse-
quent to June 80, 1910, will be
frozen so that upon their discharge
the rights they had at the time
they entered the armed forces will
be extended for 50 calendar weeks
after their discharge.
Assessments Permissible.
Another new provision permits the
commissioner to make an arbitrary
assessment against an employer if
he fails to file payroll and c0ntribu-
ton reports with the commission as
prescribed by law.
Other changes give the U. C. c.
taxes priority in case of a receiver
ship; increase from one to two years
after erroneous payment of taxes
the period in which an application
for refund may be filed; give per-
sons caught, by the statute Of limi-
tations for the years 1936-1941, in
elusive, so days from April l within
which to file applications for relief,
and provide that where taxes that
should have been paid to the Rail-
road Retirement Board have been
enormously paid to the State I'M
der the Federal Unemployment In
surance Act, refund may be made
at any time without regard to the
date of payment.