Social Security Act of 1935
TITLE IX- TAX ON EMPLOYERS OF EIGHT OR MORE
Imposition of Tax
Credit Against Tax
Certification of State Laws
Unemployment Trust Fund
Administration, Refunds, and Penalties
Interstate Commerce
Definitions
Rules and Regulations
Allowance of Additional Credit
Conditions of Additional Credit Allowance
SECTION 901. On and after January 1, 1936, every employer (as defined
in section 907) shall pay for each calendar year an excise tax, with
respect to having individuals in his employ, equal to the following
percentages of the total wages (as defined in section 907) payable by
him (regardless of the time of payment) with respect to employment (as
defined in section 907) during such calendar year:
(1) With respect to employment during the calendar year 1936 the rate
shall be 1 per centum;
(2) With respect to employment during the calendar year 1937 the rate
shall be 2 per centum;
(3) With respect to employment after December 31, 1937, the rate shall
be 3 per centum.
SEC. 902. The taxpayer may credit against the tax imposed by section 901 the amount of contributions, with respect to employment during the taxable year, paid by him (before the date of filing of his return for the taxable year) into an unemployment fund under a State law. The total credit allowed to a taxpayer under this section for all contributions paid into unemployment funds with respect to employment during such taxable year shall not exceed 90 per centum of the tax against which it is credited, and credit shall be allowed only for contributions made under the laws of States certified for the taxable year as provided in section 903.
SEC. 903 (a) The Social Security Board shall approve any State law
submitted to it, within thirty days of such submission, which it finds
provides that-
(1) All compensation is to be paid through public employment offices
in the State or such other agencies as the Board may approve;
(2) No compensation shall be payable with respect to any day of unemployment
occurring within two years after the first day of the first period with
respect to which contributions are required;
(3) All money received in the unemployment fund shall immediately upon
such receipt be paid over to the Secretary of the Treasury to the credit
of the Unemployment Trust Fund established by section 904;
(4) All money withdrawn from the Unemployment Trust Fund by the State
agency shall be used solely in the payment of compensation, exclusive
of expenses of administration;
(5) Compensation shall not be denied in such State to any otherwise
eligible individual for refusing to accept new work under any of the
following conditions:
(A) If the position offered is vacant due directly to a strike, lockout,
or other labor dispute;
(B) if the wages, hours, or other conditions of the work offered are
substantially less favorable to the individual than those prevailing
for similar work in the locality;
(C) if as a condition of being employed the individual would be required
to join a company union or to resign from or refrain from joining any
bona-fide labor organization;
(6) All the rights, privileges, or immunities conferred by such law
or by acts done pursuant thereto shall exist subject to the power of
the legislature to amend or repeal such law at any time. The Board shall,
upon approving such law, notify the Governor of the State of its approval.
(b) On December 31 in each taxable year the Board shall certify to the
Secretary of the Treasury each State whose law it has previously approved,
except that it shall not certify any State which, after reasonable notice
and opportunity for hearing to the State agency, the Board finds has
changed its law so that it no longer contains the provisions specified
in subsection (a) or has with respect to such taxable year failed to
comply substantially with any such provision.
(c) If, at any time during the taxable year, the Board has reason to
believe that a State whose law it has previously approved, may not be
certified under subsection (b), it shall promptly so notify the Governor
of such State.
SEC. 904. (a) There is hereby established in the Treasury of the United
States a trust fund to be known as the Unemployment Trust Fund , hereinafter
in this title called the Fund . The Secretary of the Treasury is authorized
and directed to receive and hold in the Fund all moneys deposited therein
by a State agency from a State unemployment fund. Such deposit may be
made directly with the Secretary of the Treasury or with any Federal
reserve bank or member bank of the Federal Reserve System designated
by him for such purpose.
(b) It shall be the duty of the Secretary of the Treasury to invest
such portion of the Fund as is not, in his judgment, required to meet
current withdrawals. Such investment may be made only in interest-bearing
obligations of the United States or in obligations guaranteed as to
both principal and interest by the United States. For such purpose such
obligations may be acquired
(1) on original issue at par, or
(2) by purchase of outstanding obligations at the market price. The
purposes for which obligations of the United States may be is- sued
under the Second Liberty Bond Act, as amended, are hereby extended to
authorize the issuance at par of special obligations exclusively to
the Fund. Such special obligations shall bear interest at a rate equal
to the average rate of interest, computed as of the end of the calendar
month next preceding the date of such issue, borne by all interest-bearing
obligations of the United States then forming part of the public debt;
except that where such average rate is not a multiple of one eighth
of 1 per centum, the rate of interest of such special obligations shall
be the multiple of one-eighth of 1 per centum next lower than such average
rate. Obligations other than such special obligations may be acquired
for the Fund only on such terms as to provide an investment yield not
less than the yield which would be required in the case of special obligations
if issued to the Fund upon the date of such acquisition.
(c) Any obligations acquired by the Fund (except special obligations
issued exclusively to the Fund) may be sold at the market price, and
such special obligations may be redeemed at par plus accrued interest.
(d) The interest on, and the proceeds from the sale or redemption of,
any obligations held in the Fund shall be credited to and form a part
of the Fund.
(e) The Fund shall be invested as a single fund, but the Secretary of
the Treasury shall maintain a separate book account for each State agency
and shall credit quarterly on March 31, June 30, September 30, and December
31, of each year, to each account, on the basis of the average daily
balance of such account, a proportionate part of the earnings of the
Fund for the quarter ending on such date.
(f) The Secretary of the Treasury is authorized and directed to pay
out of the Fund to any State agency such amount as it may duly requisition,
not exceeding the amount standing to the account of such State agency
at the time of such payment.
ADMINISTRATION, REFUNDS, AND PENALTIES
SEC. 905. (a) The tax imposed by this title shall be collected by the
Bureau of Internal Revenue under the direction of the Secretary of the
Treasury and shall be paid into the Treasury of the United States as
internal- revenue collections. If the tax is not paid when due, there
shall be added as part of the tax interest at the rate of one-half of
1 per centum per month from the date the tax became due until paid.
(b) Not later than January 31, next following the close of the taxable
year, each employer shall make a return of the tax under this title
for such taxable year. Each such return shall be made under oath, shall
be filed with the collector of internal revenue for the district in
which is located the principal place of business of the employer, or,
if he has no principal place of business in the United States, then
with the collector at Baltimore, Maryland, and shall contain such information
and be made in such manner as the Commissioner of Internal Revenue,
with the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury, may by regulations
prescribe. All provisions of law (including penalties) applicable in
respect of the taxes imposed by section 600 of the Revenue Act of 1926,
shall, insofar as not inconsistent with this title, be applicable in
respect of the tax imposed by this title. The Commissioner may extend
the time for filing the return of the tax imposed by this title, under
such rules and regulations as he may prescribe with the approval of
the Secretary of the Treasury, but no such extension shall be for more
than sixty days.
(c) Returns filed under this title shall be open to inspection in the
same manner, to the same extent, and subject to the same provisions
of law, including penalties, as returns made under Title II of the Revenue
Act of 1926.
(d) The taxpayer may elect to pay the tax in four equal installments
instead of in a single payment, in which case the first installment
shall be paid not later than the last day prescribed for the filing
of returns, the second installment shall be paid on or before the last
day of the third month, the third installment on or before the last
day of the sixth month, and the fourth installment on or before the
last day of the ninth month, after such last day. If the tax or any
installment thereof is not paid on or before the last day of the period
fixed for its payment, the whole amount of the tax unpaid shall be paid
upon notice and demand from the collector.
(e) At the request of the taxpayer the time for payment of the tax or
any installment thereof may be extended under regulations prescribed
by the Commissioner with the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury,
for a period not to exceed six months from the last day of the period
prescribed for the payment of the tax or any installment thereof. The
amount of the tax in respect of which any extension is granted shall
be paid (with inter- est at the rate of one-half of 1 per centum per
month) on or before the date of the expiration of the period of the
extension.
(f) In the payment of any tax under this title a fractional part of
a cent shall be disregarded unless it amounts to one-half cent or more,
in which case it shall be increased to 1 cent.
SEC. 906. No person required under a State law to make payments to an unemployment fund shall be relieved from compliance therewith on the ground that he is engaged in interstate commerce, or that the State law does not distinguish between employees engaged in interstate commerce and those engaged in intrastate commerce.
SEC. 907. When used in this title -- (a) The term employer does not
include any person unless on each of some twenty days during the taxable
year, each day being in a different calendar week, the total number
of individuals who were in his employ for some portion of the day (whether
or not at the same moment of time) was eight or more.
(b) The term wages means all remuneration for employment, including
the cash value of all remuneration paid in any medium other than cash.
(c) The term employment means any service, of whatever nature, performed
within the United States by an employee for his employer, except-
(1) Agricultural labor;
(2) Domestic service in a private home;
(3) Service performed as an officer or member of a crew of a vessel
on the navigable waters of the United States;
(4) Service performed by an individual in the employ of his son, daughter,
or spouse, and service performed by a child under the age of twenty-one
in the employ of his father or mother;
(5) Service performed in the employ of the United States Government
or of an instrumentality of the United States;
(6) Service performed in the employ of a State, a political subdivision
thereof, or an instrumentality of one or more States or political subdivisions;
(7) Service performed in the employ of a corporation, community chest,
fund, or foundation, organized and operated exclusively for religious,
charitable, scientific, literary, or educational purposes, or for the
prevention of cruelty to children or animals, no part of the net earnings
of which inures to the benefit of any private shareholder or individual.
(d) The term State agency means any State officer, board, or other authority,
designated under a State law to administer the unemployment fund in
such State.
(e) The term unemployment fund means a special fund, established under
a State law and administered by a State agency, for the payment of compensation.
(f) The term contributions means payments required by a State law to
be made by an employer into an unemployment fund, to the extent that
such payments are made by him without any part thereof being deducted
or deductible from the wages of individuals in his employ.
(g) The term compensation means cash benefits payable to individuals
with respect to their unemployment.
SEC. 908. The Commissioner of Internal Revenue, with the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury, shall make and publish rules and regulations for the enforcement of this title, except sections 903, 904, and 910.
ALLOWANCE OF ADDITIONAL CREDIT
SEC. 909. (a) In addition to the credit allowed under section 902,
a taxpayer may, subject to the conditions imposed by section 910, credit
against the tax imposed by section 901 for any taxable year after the
taxable year 1937, an amount, with respect to each State law, equal
to the amount, if any, by which the contributions, with respect to employment
in such taxable year, actually paid by the taxpayer under such law before
the date of filing his return for such taxable year, is exceeded by
whichever of the following is the lesser- (1) The amount of contributions
which he would have been required to pay under such law for such taxable
year if he had been subject to the highest rate applicable from time
to time throughout such year to any employer under such law; or (2)
Two and seven-tenths per centum of the wages payable by him with respect
to employment with respect to which contributions for such year were
required under such law.
(b) If the amount of the contributions actually so paid by the taxpayer
is less than the amount which he should have paid under the State law,
the additional credit under subsection (a) shall be reduced proportionately.
(c) The total credits allowed to a taxpayer under this title shall not
exceed 90 per centum of the tax against which such credits are taken.
CONDITIONS OF ADDITIONAL CREDIT ALLOWANCE
SEC. 910. (a) A taxpayer shall be allowed the additional credit under
section 909, with respect to his contribution rate under a State law
being lower, for any taxable year, than that of another employer subject
to such law, only if the Board finds that under such law--
(1) Such lower rate, with respect to contributions to a pooled fund,
is permitted on the basis of not less than three years of compensation
experience;
(2) Such lower rate, with respect to contributions to a guaranteed employment
account, is permitted only when his guaranty of employment was fulfilled
in the preceding calendar year, and such guaranteed employment account
amounts to not less than 7 « per centum of the total wages payable
by him, in accordance with such guaranty, with respect to employment
in such State in the preceding calendar year;
(3) Such lower rate, with respect to contributions to a separate reserve
account, is permitted only when
(A) compensation has been payable from such account throughout the preceding
calendar year, and
(B) such account amounts to not less than five times the largest amount
of compensation paid from such account within any one of the three preceding
calendar years, and
(C) such account amounts to not less than 7 « per centum of the
total wages payable by him (plus the total wages payable by any other
employers who may be contributing to such account) with respect to employment
in such State in the preceding calendar year.
(b) Such additional credit shall be reduced, if any contributions under
such law are made by such taxpayer at a lower rate under conditions
not fulfilling the requirements of subsection (a), by the amount bearing
the same ratio to such additional credit as the amount of contributions
made at such lower rate bears to the total of his contributions paid
for such year under such law.
(c) As used in this section-
(1) The term reserve account means a separate account in an unemployment
fund, with respect to an employer or group of employers, from which
compensation is payable only with respect to the unemployment of individuals
who were in the employ of such employer, or of one of the employers
comprising the group.
(2) The term pooled fund means an unemployment fund or any part thereof
in which all contributions are mingled and undivided, and from which
compensation is payable to all eligible individuals, except that to
individuals last employed by employers with respect to whom reserve
accounts are maintained by the State agency, it is payable only when
such accounts are exhausted.
(3) The term guaranteed employment account means a separate account,
in an unemployment fund, of contributions paid by an employer (or group
of employers) who
(A) guarantees in advance thirty hours of wages for each of forty calendar
weeks (or more, with one weekly hour deducted for each added week guaranteed)
in twelve months, to all the individuals in his employ in one or more
distinct establishments, except that any such individual s guaranty
may commence after a probationary period (included within twelve or
less consecutive calendar weeks), and
(B) gives security or assurance, satisfactory to the State agency, for
the fulfillment of such guaranties, from which account compensation
shall be payable with respect to the unemployment of any such individual
whose guaranty is not fulfilled or renewed and who is otherwise eligible
for compensation under the State law.
(4) The term year of compensation experience , as applied to an employer,
means any calendar year throughout which compensation was payable with
respect to any individual in his employ who became unemployed and was
eligible for compensation.