![]() ![]() On January 1, 2023, thirty-eight states have noteworthy tax changes taking effect. “The real impact of these changes will depend on whether and how DUA incorporates experts in language access, inclusive design, and user experience, in developing and monitoring any new systems, processes, and communications,” she said.Most state tax changes take effect at the beginning of the calendar year (January 1) or at the beginning of the fiscal year (July 1 for most states). MacAneney, the employment attorney, said that the number of Massachusetts residents who will get financial relief will hinge on the state being able to each out to and process requests from those without legal counsel or with limited English proficiency. Now the DUA is working on a “one-click” system the state said would simplify and accelerate the process of granting waivers. Since the start of the pandemic the DUA has waived $2 billion in overpayments on 224,000 claims. The blanket waiver the administration sought from the federal government would have eliminated the need to go through tens of thousands of waiver requests one by one. The administration said it will ask the Legislature for money to offset repayments that are forgiven under the write-off or expanded waiver criteria. says it has 29,000 pending waiver requests for unemployment overpayments The state didn’t list the new criteria, but it said they will “broaden the universe of people who qualify” for waivers on federal and state overpayments. Third, the DUA will soon file emergency regulations to expand criteria for waivers to cover as much as $782 million in overpayments to 154,000 claimants not eligible under the Labor Department’s decision. The agency will return any previously repaid funds to claimants. ![]() Subsequent benefits can still be waived, but only after the DUA takes a look at each case individually. The blanket forgiveness will be limited to PUA payments made before March 23, 2021, when the state told recipients that they must substantiate their work history. Proof of employment was a requirement Congress set after the PUA program was well underway, and the lack of such documentation was the most common reason unemployment claimants in Massachusetts were retroactively ruled ineligible for federal help. It covers $349 million in PUA overpayments triggered by recipients’ failure to provide work histories. Second, the state disclosed Thursday that more than 53,000 people would be eligible for partial relief under the blanket waiver approved by the Labor Department. It said affected claimants never actually received benefits, which instead went to scammers. “A significant portion of these overpayments are uncollectible, as they are likely connected to a nationwide fraud scheme involving stolen identities,” the Executive Office of Labor and Workplace Development said in a statement. The administration’s plan has three components.įirst, the state will write off $475 million in state and federal benefits on 133,000 claims designated as overpaid due to the lack of identity verification. While overwhelmed, it eventually sent out more than $33 billion in benefit checks to 4 million people over two years. The Department of Unemployment Assistance was hit by a flood of jobless claims starting in March 2020. “While it is a welcome development, the fact remains that very few claimants have actually applied for waivers - simply because they don’t know what a waiver is, that it’s available, or how to apply.” “This has the potential to provide relief to many,” said Rory MacAneney, an employment attorney at Community Legal Aid in Fitchburg. Instead, the Labor Department OK’d a blanket waiver for just one small group of claimants who were overpaid, and only for some amounts. Those benefits, including federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, account for most of the outstanding cases, with the rest tied to the state benefits. The announcement came nearly two weeks after the US Labor Department denied Governor Charlie Baker’s request for permission to waive en masse all federal overpayments. ![]()
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