Governor Gordon Provides Tax Relief to Wyoming Businesses

Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon has signed an Executive Order that will provide significant tax relief to eligible Wyoming businesses. Sheridan Media’s Ron Richter has the details.

The tax relief will come in the form of a tax credit and by offsetting some potential increases to their unemployment insurance (UI) taxes in the future. The Executive Order removes all UI benefit claims between March 13 and December 31 of 2020, from the businesses whose accounts were charged for those claims. The Wyoming Legislature authorized the EO in 2020 and it ensures that these employers do not continue to experience significant UI tax rate increases due to the system-wide surge in unemployment claims that occurred from the COVID-19 pandemic. It will also provide credits to employers who experienced increased unemployment taxes already paid in 2021.

To ensure that the tax relief will not impact future tax rates, Governor Gordon will utilize $58 million in federal funds to backfill Wyoming’s UI Trust Fund. The Governor previously added $64 million to that trust fund, which has already helped keep rates from going up even further.  Gordon said it’s important that we ensure that this significant tax relief does not necessitate an increase in UI tax rate at a later date. Wyoming employers will see a decrease in their unemployment tax rates after October 31. They will also receive notification from the Wyoming Department of Workforce Services of the value of credits that can be applied to future unemployment taxes.