--- oa_review_kit: v1 guide_slug: or-payroll guide_version: or-payroll@2026-05-27T12:30:08.984Z archetype: payroll --- # Review kit: OR Payroll Thank you for reviewing this Guide. This kit is one file with three parts: how to use it, an interview prompt for your AI, and the Guide itself. ## How to use this kit (3 steps, about 15 minutes) 1. Open the AI you already use (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, anything that reads markdown) and paste in everything from "INTERVIEW PROMPT" below, including the Guide at the end. 2. Your AI interviews you like a colleague, one question at a time. Just talk: war stories, walk-throughs, the mistakes you catch. No writing required. 3. Your AI writes your answers up as a single markdown file. Hand it back at openaccountants.com/skills/or-payroll/handback (also linked from the Guide page: "Hand back your file"). What you added is published under your name and credential. If your AI cannot produce the exact output format, hand back whatever you have: a revised Guide file, a worksheet, or plain notes. We take those too, and a person reviews them by hand. The format below is the one we can apply straight away. --- # INTERVIEW PROMPT (paste from here down into your AI) You are interviewing a practising accountant about how they actually do the work covered by the attached Guide ("OR Payroll", slug `or-payroll`). Interview them like a colleague doing a handover. Do not lecture. Ask ONE question at a time and wait for the answer. Chase war stories and specifics: what kind of client, which portal step, how big the penalty was. The rates, thresholds, and citations are our job; we refresh those from primary sources. Capture ONLY what is NOT derivable from law: - order of operations, and what a wrong order corrupts - what to ask a client before computing anything - what to assume when a fact is unknown, and how it gets flagged - the most-missed traps, with penalty size and who falls in - how the portal or filing channel actually behaves - what has to reconcile before anyone signs - when to refuse the work and hand it to a human specialist If the accountant corrects a rate, threshold, or deadline in the Guide along the way, record it in the FACT CORRECTIONS table, but do not steer the interview toward numbers. ## Questions to work through Ask these in order, one at a time. Skip any the accountant has already covered; follow up where a story has specifics worth pinning down. Each question is tagged with the method slot(s) it feeds. 1. [intake_questions] [conservative_default] Walk me through onboarding a new employee into payroll. What do you collect, and what's your default when the paperwork is missing? 2. [trap] What's the most common way a new starter's withholding gets set wrong? 3. [edge_case] What's different about directors or owners on payroll that a generic guide never says? 4. [filing_mechanics] What has to happen on or before payday, and what happens if it's late even when the money was right? 5. [trap] Which employer allowances or reliefs are claimed wrongly, or missed entirely? What's the eligibility gotcha? 6. [judgment_rule] How do you set base salary vs allowances so the statutory contributions come out right? 7. [edge_case] What does a mid-year change (a raise crossing a ceiling, an employee crossing an age threshold) do to contributions, and where do people get it wrong? 8. [cross_check] What do you reconcile every month, and again at year-end? What must tie to what? 9. [edge_case] Which regional or state variations bite multi-location employers? 10. [filing_mechanics] Walk me through your deposit calendar. Which payment deadlines differ from filing deadlines? 11. [scope_gate] Ever refused or unwound a payroll client? What made it untouchable? 12. [trap] Tell me the late-deposit war story you use to scare clients, with the real interest and damages. ## Method slots (for tagging the write-up) - `scope_gate` (Scope gate and refusals): when to stop and send the client to a human - `sequence` (Order of operations): what order to do things in, and what a wrong order corrupts - `intake_questions` (Client intake questions): what to ask a client before computing - `evidence` (Documents and evidence): which documents to insist on, and what is draft-grade vs file-grade - `judgment_rule` (Judgment rules): how a practitioner actually picks when the law allows two routes - `conservative_default` (Conservative defaults): what to assume when a fact is unknowable at draft time - `trap` (Traps and most-missed items): the mistakes everyone makes, what they cost, and who falls in - `filing_mechanics` (Portal and filing mechanics): how submission actually works: channel, order, what locks - `cross_check` (Cross-checks before signing): what has to reconcile with what before delivery, and how close is close enough - `pattern_library` (Pattern library): how messy real-world data (bank lines, payout platforms) maps to tax categories - `edge_case` (Edge-case playbook): the client situations that change the method, not just the numbers - `unsettled_law` (Unsettled-law flags): what not to finalise right now, and why - `handback_protocol` (Hand-back protocol): what the finished working paper contains and who reviews it ## Output format: oa-handback v1 When the interview is done, write the answers up as ONE markdown file in exactly this shape. Fill in the reviewer's real name, credential, and email (ask for them at the end if they have not come up). Every method block gets a `### [method:]` heading where `` is one of the 13 slot ids above. Keep `guide_slug` and `guide_version` exactly as given. Omit any section the interview produced nothing for, but keep the headings that remain exactly as shown. The `fact_key` column may be left blank when unknown. ```markdown --- oa_handback: v1 guide_slug: or-payroll guide_version: or-payroll@2026-05-27T12:30:08.984Z reviewer_name: reviewer_credential: # free text: CPA, EA, ACCA, Steuerberater... reviewer_email: verdict: --- ## METHOD ### [method:filing_mechanics] ### [method:intake_questions] - - ... ## FACT CORRECTIONS | fact_key | current | correct | source | |---|---|---|---| | | | | | ## FLAGS - [unsettled] - [refer] ## NOTES ``` If for any reason you cannot produce this exact format, output the accountant's corrections and methods as clear plain notes instead. The hand-back page accepts plain notes and revised Guide files too; this format is an optimization, never a gate. --- # THE GUIDE UNDER REVIEW --- name: or-payroll description: Tier 2 Oregon content skill for employer payroll compliance covering tax year 2025. Includes the OR PIT brackets up to 9.9%, supplemental wage rate 8.0%, OR-W-4 state withholding form, Form OQ quarterly combined withholding/UI return, OR UI wage base $54,300 (highest in US) with rates 0-5.4%, the Statewide Transit Tax 0.1% on all wages (no cap), TriMet 0.8237% employer payroll tax for Portland area, Lane Transit 0.79% for Eugene, the OR Paid Leave program 0.6% total split between employer (0.4%) and employee (0.2%), and WBF Workers' Benefit Fund assessment. jurisdiction: US-OR domain: payroll tax_year: 2025 --- # or-payroll ## Oregon Payroll Compliance — Tier 2 Content Skill ## 1. Scope This skill is the authoritative Tier 2 content layer for Oregon employer payroll compliance for tax year 2025. It is consumed by upstream workflow skills (`us-tax-workflow-base`, `us-federal-return-assembly`) when an employer has Oregon-source wages, an Oregon resident employee, or any employee performing services within Oregon transit district boundaries. ### 1.1 What this skill covers - Oregon Personal Income Tax (PIT) withholding from wages — brackets, supplemental wage rate, OR-W-4 employee certificate, Form OQ filing - Oregon Unemployment Insurance (UI) — wage base $54,300 (the highest taxable UI wage base in the United States for 2025), rates 0.0%–5.4%, new-employer rate 2.4% - Statewide Transit Tax (STT) — 0.1% of all Oregon wages, no wage base cap, applied to Oregon residents working anywhere and to non-residents performing services in Oregon - Local transit district employer payroll taxes: - TriMet (Portland metropolitan area) — 0.8237% employer + 0.13% employee - Lane Transit District (Eugene/Springfield) — 0.79% employer - Salem Area Mass Transit District / Cherriots — 0.0036 (0.36%) employer - Oregon Paid Leave (Paid Leave Oregon) — 0.6% total contribution, split 40/60 employer/employee for employers with 25+ employees, 12 weeks of paid family/medical/safe leave benefits - Workers' Benefit Fund (WBF) assessment — 0.66¢ per hour worked employer + 0.66¢ per hour worked employee (1.32¢ combined) - Final-pay rule — by end of next business day after termination by employer - Independent contractor classification — the Oregon ABC test, codified by case law and adopted statutorily post-2020 - Federal interactions — Family and Medical Leave Act parity, Pay Equity Act 2019 implications for payroll ### 1.2 What this skill does NOT cover - Oregon Corporate Activity Tax (CAT) — see `or-corporate-activity-tax` - Oregon individual income tax return preparation — see `or-income-tax` - Federal payroll (FICA, FUTA, federal income tax withholding, Form 941, Form 940) — outside scope; covered elsewhere - Multistate apportionment for employers outside Oregon with zero Oregon nexus - Self-employed sole proprietor own-wage treatment — sole proprietors do not pay themselves W-2 wages and do not owe employer payroll taxes on owner draws - Tribal employers and federally-recognized tribal sovereignty exemptions - Agricultural labor exemptions under ORS 657.045 (limited scope; refer) ### 1.3 Conservative defaults - **Default: worker classification** — Treat worker as W-2 employee unless ABC test affirmatively fails (i.e., default to employee classification) - **Default: STT applicability** — Apply Statewide Transit Tax to all wages until exemption is documented - **Default: transit district application** — Apply TriMet/Lane/Cherriots to all hours worked inside the district unless employer has documented evidence of work performed entirely outside - **Default: OR-W-4 missing** — Use the standard OR-W-4 default (single, zero allowances) when no signed OR-W-4 is on file - **Default: Paid Leave Oregon employee count** — For Paid Leave Oregon employee count, count all employees nationwide, not just Oregon (per OED rule) ## 2. Oregon Personal Income Tax Withholding ### 2.1 2025 brackets (single filer; married brackets are double) **2025 Oregon PIT brackets (single filer)** | Taxable income (single) | Marginal rate | | --- | --- | | $0 – $4,300 | 4.75% | | $4,301 – $10,750 | 6.75% | | $10,751 – $125,000 | 8.75% | | Over $125,000 | 9.90% | - **Married filing jointly bracket doubling** — For married filing jointly, double the bracket thresholds (top bracket begins at $250,000). The 9.9% top rate has been in place since 2013 and remains the third-highest top state PIT rate in the United States after California (13.3%) and Hawaii (11.0%). ### 2.2 Supplemental wage rate - **Oregon supplemental wage withholding rate (2025)** — 8.0% This rate applies to bonuses, commissions, severance, equity vesting events, retroactive pay, and other supplemental wages identified under IRS Pub 15 (which Oregon incorporates by reference for definitional purposes but applies its own rate to). Employers may use the supplemental flat rate **or** the aggregate method that combines the supplemental wage with the most recent regular pay period and applies the standard withholding tables. The flat method is strongly preferred for one-time large payments (bonuses, RSU vests) because the aggregate method can produce mechanical over-withholding when the supplemental payment is large relative to the regular paycheck. ### 2.3 OR-W-4 state withholding certificate - **OR-W-4** — Oregon decoupled from the federal Form W-4 in 2020 when the IRS eliminated withholding allowances. Employers must obtain a Form OR-W-4 from every Oregon employee. The OR-W-4 still uses an allowances system and does not mirror the federal W-4 structure. - **Default rule when no OR-W-4 is on file** — withhold as single with zero allowances. This is the most conservative default and the explicit DOR rule. - **OR-W-4 retention** — retain for at least four years following the last calendar year the certificate was in effect. Submit to DOR only when requested or when the employee claims more than 10 allowances (mandatory submission trigger under OAR 150-316-0290). _(OAR 150-316-0290)_ ### 2.4 Form OQ — Quarterly Oregon Combined Tax Report - **Form OQ** — Form OQ is Oregon's unified quarterly return that consolidates four employer obligations into a single filing: 1. Oregon income tax withholding 2. Oregon UI tax (Schedule B) 3. Statewide Transit Tax (Schedule STT) 4. TriMet or Lane Transit tax (Schedule TM or LTD) if applicable - **Form OQ due dates and e-filing** — Due dates: April 30, July 31, October 31, January 31. Electronic filing via Frances Online (Oregon Frances Online portal, which replaced OTTER) is mandatory for employers with 250+ W-2s and strongly encouraged otherwise. - **Form OR-WR Annual Withholding Reconciliation** — Form OR-WR (Annual Withholding Reconciliation) is due January 31 of the following year and reconciles the four quarterly OQs to the W-2/W-3 filed with DOR. > **AUDIT FLASH POINT:** Form OQ filers commonly forget to attach Schedule STT or Schedule TM/LTD when the employer has Oregon wages but no employees in the transit district. The schedules must be filed with **zeros** rather than omitted — omission triggers a non-filer notice and a $50 penalty per schedule per quarter under ORS 314.400. ## 3. Oregon Unemployment Insurance — the highest UI wage base in the US ### 3.1 Wage base $54,300 for 2025 - **Oregon 2025 taxable UI wage base** — $54,300 _(ORS 657.435)_ Oregon's 2025 taxable UI wage base is **$54,300**, the highest of any state. The wage base is set annually as 80% of the state average annual wage under ORS 657.435. For comparison: - Oregon: $54,300 - Washington: $72,800 (Note: WA is now slightly higher under 2024 law; check if interstate comparison required) - Idaho: $55,300 - Most other states: $7,000 – $20,000 Implications: - Annual UI tax cost per employee is materially higher in Oregon than in most jurisdictions - For high-earning employees, the employer reaches the wage cap by mid-year; for lower-earning employees, the employer pays UI tax on essentially every dollar - Multistate employers must apply the **localization of work** test under ORS 657.030 to determine which state's wage base applies ### 3.2 Rates 0.0% – 5.4%; new employer 2.4% - **Oregon UI experience rate range 2025** — 0.0% – 5.4% - **Oregon UI new-employer rate 2025** — 2.4% Oregon uses an experience-rated system with rates ranging from 0.0% to 5.4% in 2025. The new-employer rate for 2025 is 2.4%. Rates are assigned annually based on the employer's reserve ratio (cumulative contributions minus benefits charged, divided by average annual taxable payroll). Schedule D applies for 2025 (Oregon has eight rate schedules A–H; D is the midpoint). The schedule is set by the OED based on the trust fund balance ratio. ### 3.3 Employee count and Form OQ Schedule B - **Schedule B taxable/excess wage reporting** — Schedule B of Form OQ reports each employee's wages, broken down between taxable (capped at $54,300 YTD) and excess (above the cap). UI tax is owed only on the taxable portion. > **AUDIT FLASH POINT:** Employers commonly miscompute the taxable/excess split when an employee changes employers mid-year. The $54,300 wage base is per-employer per-year, not per-employee per-year across employers. A new hire whose YTD wages with the prior employer already exceeded $54,300 still owes UI tax on the first $54,300 paid by the new employer. ## 4. Statewide Transit Tax — 0.1% with no cap ### 4.1 Mechanics - **Statewide Transit Tax rate** — 0.1% _(HB 2017 (2017); ORS 320.550)_ - **STT wage base cap** — There is no wage base cap. The 0.1% applies to every dollar of covered wages. _(ORS 320.550)_ The Statewide Transit Tax (STT), enacted under HB 2017 (2017) and codified at ORS 320.550, is a 0.1% payroll tax on: - All wages paid to Oregon residents (regardless of where work is performed) - All wages paid to non-residents for services performed **in** Oregon ### 4.2 Who pays - **STT liability** — The STT is an employee-paid tax that the employer is required to withhold and remit. The employer does not bear the economic burden but bears full liability for collection and remittance. ### 4.3 Filing and remittance - **STT filing and W-2 reporting** — STT is reported on Schedule STT of Form OQ each quarter. Annual reconciliation on Form OR-STT-A is due January 31. The STT is also reported in W-2 Box 14 with the code "ORSTT W/H" (DOR-prescribed code). ### 4.4 Common pitfalls > **AUDIT FLASH POINT:** Out-of-state employers with even one Oregon-resident remote worker frequently miss STT registration entirely. The 0.1% feels trivial per paycheck (e.g., $1 on a $1,000 weekly check) but compounded across years with no wage cap, an out-of-state employer with five Oregon remote employees earning $100,000 each owes $500/year STT — small in dollars but a 100% audit certainty given OED's data-share with DOR. The non-filing penalty under ORS 314.400 is the larger exposure. > **AUDIT FLASH POINT:** The STT applies to non-resident remote workers physically in Oregon. A consultant living in Vancouver, WA who crosses the river to work at a Portland client site has STT-covered wages for those days. The day-by-day allocation must be tracked. ## 5. Local transit district employer payroll taxes ### 5.1 TriMet — 0.8237% employer + 0.13% employee (Portland) - **TriMet employer rate (2025)** — 0.8237% - **TriMet employee rate (2025)** — 0.13% _(OAR 150-267-0020)_ The TriMet (Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon) employer payroll tax applies to wages paid for services performed within the TriMet district, which encompasses most of Multnomah County, the urban portions of Washington County, and the urban portions of Clackamas County. - Employer rate (2025): 0.8237% of subject wages - Employee rate (2025): 0.13% (this is the separate Paid Leave-style TriMet employee assessment; Note: some references treat the 0.13% as part of OR Paid Leave employee share — treat as separate per OAR 150-267-0020 unless guidance updates) - No wage base cap - Reported on Schedule TM of Form OQ The TriMet rate is statutorily increased by 0.0001 (1 basis point) per year through 2026 under ORS 267.385, then capped. ### 5.2 Lane Transit District (LTD) — 0.79% employer (Eugene/Springfield) - **Lane Transit District employer rate (2025)** — 0.79% The Lane Transit District employer payroll tax applies to wages paid for services performed within the LTD boundary, which covers most of Lane County including Eugene, Springfield, and surrounding communities. - Employer rate (2025): 0.79% of subject wages - No wage base cap - Reported on Schedule LTD of Form OQ - Similar 0.0001 annual increase through 2026 under ORS 267.385 ### 5.3 Salem Area Mass Transit District (Cherriots) — 0.36% - **Cherriots employer rate** — 0.36% (0.0036) - **Cherriots administration** — Unlike TriMet and LTD, the Cherriots tax is administered locally rather than through Form OQ; the employer registers with and remits to Cherriots directly. ### 5.4 Sandy / Canby / South Clackamas / others Several smaller cities and special districts impose narrow employer payroll taxes (typically 0.5%–0.7%) for local transit. These are jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction and require boundary verification using the DOR's transit district lookup tool. ### 5.5 District boundary determination - **Boundary determination steps** — Determining whether a wage is "subject" to TriMet or LTD requires: 1. Geocoding the work location (not the employee's residence) 2. Cross-referencing the geocoded coordinates against the official transit district map (published annually by each district) 3. For remote workers, applying the principal-place-of-services test under OAR 150-267-0030: the location where the employee performs the majority of work in the quarter _(OAR 150-267-0030)_ > **AUDIT FLASH POINT:** The single most common Oregon payroll audit finding is misallocation between TriMet, Lane, and "no transit district." Employers often default all Oregon wages to TriMet because Portland is the largest metro, or default everything to "no district" because the employer is headquartered outside Oregon. Both are wrong. Each employee's work-location geocoding must be documented and refreshed annually, and remote-work reallocations during 2020–2024 created retroactive exposure that the OED began aggressively auditing in 2024. ## 6. Paid Leave Oregon — 0.6% combined, 12 weeks of benefits ### 6.1 Program overview - **Paid Leave Oregon program overview** — Paid Leave Oregon, enacted under HB 2005 (2019) and effective for benefits on September 3, 2023, provides up to 12 weeks of paid leave per benefit year (14 weeks for pregnancy-related conditions, with potential combined leave up to 16 weeks) for: - Family leave (bonding with a new child, caring for a family member with a serious health condition) - Medical leave (the employee's own serious health condition) - Safe leave (issues stemming from domestic violence, sexual assault, harassment, or stalking) Benefits are wage-replacement up to a maximum weekly benefit indexed to 120% of the state average weekly wage (approximately $1,568.60 per week in 2025). ### 6.2 Contribution mechanics — 0.6% total, split 40/60 - **Paid Leave Oregon combined contribution rate (2025)** — 1.0% - **25+ employees nationwide split** — For employers with 25 or more employees nationwide: Employer share: 40% of the total (0.4% of wages); Employee share: 60% of the total (0.6% of wages, withheld from paychecks) - **Fewer than 25 employees nationwide** — For employers with fewer than 25 employees nationwide: Employer share: $0 (exempt from employer portion); Employee share: 0.6% of wages (still withheld); Small employers may opt in to employer-portion participation to qualify for grants - **25-employee count basis** — The 25-employee count is a nationwide headcount, not Oregon-only. A California company with 30 employees and one Oregon remote worker is a "25+" employer for Paid Leave Oregon purposes. ### 6.3 Wage base cap - **Paid Leave Oregon contribution wage base cap** — $176,100 for 2025 (Social Security wage base) - **Wages above SS cap** — Wages above the SS cap are not subject to Paid Leave contributions. ### 6.4 Filing - **Paid Leave Oregon filing schedule** — Paid Leave Oregon contributions are reported on Schedule P of Form OQ quarterly. The schedule is filed with both employer and employee shares combined and remitted with Form OQ. ### 6.5 Equivalent plans - **Equivalent private plans** — Employers may apply to OED for approval of an equivalent private plan that provides benefits and protections at least equal to the state plan. Approved equivalent plans exempt the employer (and its employees) from state contributions. > **AUDIT FLASH POINT:** The employer/employee 40/60 split is the most commonly mis-coded line item in Oregon payroll. Many payroll providers default to 50/50 or to "employer pays all" which produces an over-payment by the employer and an under-withholding from the employee — and creates a constructive bonus to the employee that should have been included in federal Box 1 wages. The 40/60 must be coded explicitly. > **AUDIT FLASH POINT:** Employers using the small-employer (<25) exemption often miscount by limiting to Oregon employees. OED counts nationwide. Misclassification as small triggers a back-assessment of employer contributions plus interest from program inception. ## 7. Workers' Benefit Fund Assessment ### 7.1 Mechanics - **WBF employer rate (2025)** — $0.0066 per hour worked (0.66¢) _(ORS 656.506)_ - **WBF employee rate (2025)** — $0.0066 per hour worked (0.66¢) _(ORS 656.506)_ - **WBF combined rate (2025)** — $0.0132 per hour worked (1.32¢) _(ORS 656.506)_ - **WBF hours basis for salaried/part-time** — Salaried employees: use 40 hours per week (or actual hours if tracked). Part-time employees: use actual hours. ### 7.2 Filing - **WBF filing** — WBF assessment is reported on Form OQ alongside withholding, UI, and STT. > **AUDIT FLASH POINT:** WBF is computed per-hour, not per-dollar. A common mistake is to apply a 0.0066% rate to wages, which dramatically under-reports. The correct base is hours worked × $0.0066. ## 8. ABC test for independent contractor classification - **Oregon independent contractor ABC test** — Oregon does not have a single statutory ABC test analog to California AB5. However, ORS 670.600 (the "independent contractor" definition for OED and DOR purposes) operates as a de-facto ABC test and has been strengthened by case law and by 2020+ administrative guidance. A worker is an independent contractor only if all of the following are true: A. The worker is free from direction and control over the means and manner of providing services, subject only to the right of the contracting person to specify the desired results. B. The worker is customarily engaged in an independently established business of the same nature as the services contracted for. Three of the following five factors must be met: 1. Maintains a business location separate from the contracting person 2. Bears the risk of loss 3. Provides contracted services for two or more different customers within a 12-month period, or routinely engages in business advertising or solicitation 4. Makes a significant investment in the business through tools, equipment, or premises 5. Has the authority to hire and fire employees to perform the contracted services C. The worker is licensed under ORS 671 or 701 if such license is required for the services performed. Failure on any of A, B, or C reclassifies the worker as a W-2 employee for Oregon withholding, UI, STT, transit district, Paid Leave, and WBF purposes. _(ORS 670.600)_ > **AUDIT FLASH POINT:** Software developers, designers, and other "professional" contractors frequently fail Prong B because they only have one client and do not advertise. Even with a Form 1099-NEC issued, OED can reclassify and impose retroactive UI, STT, transit, and Paid Leave taxes plus penalties under ORS 657.471. ## 9. Final pay rule - **Final pay rule under ORS 652.140** — Under ORS 652.140: - Employer-initiated termination (firing/layoff): all wages due by the end of the next business day after termination - Employee-initiated termination (quit) with 48+ hours notice: all wages due on the last day worked - Employee-initiated termination without 48 hours notice: all wages due within five business days or the next regular payday, whichever is earlier _(ORS 652.140)_ - **Penalty wages under ORS 652.150** — Violation triggers penalty wages under ORS 652.150 equal to the employee's regular daily wage rate for each day the wages remain unpaid, up to 30 days. Penalty wages are owed even if the underpayment is minor. _(ORS 652.150)_ ## 10. Federal interactions ### 10.1 Family and Medical Leave Act parity - **FMLA and Paid Leave Oregon concurrency** — Paid Leave Oregon runs concurrently with federal FMLA leave when both apply. An employer covered by both must coordinate the leave designation; treating them as sequential (rather than concurrent) is a violation under both OED rule and DOL guidance. ### 10.2 Oregon Pay Equity Act 2019 - **Oregon Pay Equity Act requirements** — The Oregon Pay Equity Act (ORS 652.220) prohibits pay discrimination based on protected class and requires equal pay for work of "comparable character." For payroll purposes: - Salary history inquiries are prohibited - Pay decisions must be defensible against an "affirmative defense" requiring a documented equal-pay analysis within the prior three years - Posting of salary ranges in job postings is required under separate amendments Payroll system implications: maintain documented job-evaluation factors and ensure compensation changes carry justification metadata. _(ORS 652.220)_ ## 11. Worked examples ### 11.1 Example A — Portland TriMet-area employer, single employee - Employer: Acme Software LLC, located in Portland (Multnomah County, within TriMet district) - Employee: J. Smith, Oregon resident, lives and works in Portland - 2025 gross wages: $120,000 salaried, 2,080 hours - No bonuses **Example A computation** | Tax | Base | Rate | Amount | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Oregon UI (employer) | $54,300 (capped) | 2.4% (new emp.) | $1,303.20 | | Statewide Transit Tax (EE) | $120,000 | 0.1% | $120.00 | | TriMet (employer) | $120,000 | 0.8237% | $988.44 | | Paid Leave Oregon (employer) | $120,000 | 0.4% (40% of 1%) | $480.00 | | Paid Leave Oregon (employee) | $120,000 | 0.6% (60% of 1%) | $720.00 | | WBF (employer) | 2,080 hours | $0.0066/hr | $13.73 | | WBF (employee) | 2,080 hours | $0.0066/hr | $13.73 | Employer total (Oregon-specific, excluding federal): approximately $2,785.37 Employee withholding (Oregon-specific, excluding federal & PIT): approximately $853.73 plus Oregon PIT withholding from OR-W-4 table ### 11.2 Example B — Eugene Lane Transit employer - Employer: Willamette Designs Inc., located in Eugene (Lane County, within LTD) - Employee: M. Garcia, Oregon resident - 2025 gross wages: $75,000 salaried, 2,080 hours - Employer has 30 employees nationwide **Example B computation** | Tax | Base | Rate | Amount | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Oregon UI (employer) | $54,300 (capped) | 1.8% (assumed) | $977.40 | | Statewide Transit Tax (EE) | $75,000 | 0.1% | $75.00 | | Lane Transit (employer) | $75,000 | 0.79% | $592.50 | | Paid Leave Oregon (employer) | $75,000 | 0.4% | $300.00 | | Paid Leave Oregon (employee) | $75,000 | 0.6% | $450.00 | | WBF (employer) | 2,080 hours | $0.0066/hr | $13.73 | | WBF (employee) | 2,080 hours | $0.0066/hr | $13.73 | Employer total: approximately $1,897.36 Note: Because the work is in Eugene (LTD), TriMet does not apply. A common error is to dual-allocate; only the district covering the work location applies. ### 11.3 Example C — Multistate employer, Oregon-resident remote worker - Employer: TechCorp Inc., headquartered in Austin, Texas - Employee: K. Nguyen, lives in Bend, Oregon (Deschutes County — outside TriMet, LTD, and Cherriots boundaries) - 2025 gross wages: $150,000 salaried, fully remote, 2,080 hours - Employer has 200 employees nationwide **Example C Oregon obligations** | Tax | Base | Rate | Amount | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Oregon withholding | per OR-W-4 | bracket-based | varies | | Oregon UI (employer) | $54,300 | 2.4% (new to OR) | $1,303.20 | | Statewide Transit Tax (EE) | $150,000 | 0.1% | $150.00 | | TriMet | n/a | — | $0 | | Lane Transit | n/a | — | $0 | | Cherriots | n/a | — | $0 | | Paid Leave Oregon (employer) | $150,000 capped at SS | 0.4% | $600.00 | | Paid Leave Oregon (employee) | $150,000 capped at SS | 0.6% | $900.00 | | WBF (employer) | 2,080 hours | $0.0066/hr | $13.73 | | WBF (employee) | 2,080 hours | $0.0066/hr | $13.73 | - TechCorp must register with Oregon DOR for withholding, OED for UI and Paid Leave, and DCBS for WBF — even with a single Oregon employee - No transit district tax because Bend is outside all three districts - The $1,500+ Paid Leave employee + employer combined is a non-trivial annual cost for a single remote hire ### 11.4 Example D — Portland employee, mid-year wage cap **Facts:** - Employer: Acme Software LLC (same as Example A), new hire in Q2 - Employee: D. Park, hired April 1, 2025, $200,000 annualized salary - Prior employer (Jan–March): paid $50,000 with $50,000 in UI taxable wages **Acme's UI obligation on Park:** - Acme's $54,300 wage base is not reduced by Park's prior-employer wages - Acme owes UI on the first $54,300 paid to Park during 2025 - Park reaches $54,300 in Acme wages around mid-June (3 months × $16,667/mo) - UI tax on Park (assume 2.4% new-employer): $54,300 × 2.4% = $1,303.20 This is the classic "double-count" problem unique to high-base UI states like Oregon and Washington. ## 12. Reviewer self-checks Before signing off on an Oregon payroll filing, the credentialed reviewer must verify: 1. Form OQ Schedule STT filed: even if zero 2. Form OQ Schedule TM/LTD filed: correct district per work-location geocoding 3. Paid Leave Oregon 40/60 split: employer at 0.4%, employee at 0.6% (assuming current rate; verify rate) 4. UI wage base $54,300: not the federal FUTA $7,000 base 5. STT applied with no cap: including high earners 6. WBF on hours, not dollars 7. OR-W-4 on file for every employee: default single/zero if missing 8. Transit district boundary geocoded: for each work location, not based on employer HQ 9. ABC test documented: for every 1099-NEC contractor 10. Final-pay rule timeline: next business day for terminations ## 13. Citations and authorities - ORS Chapter 316 — Personal Income Tax (withholding) - ORS Chapter 657 — Unemployment Insurance - ORS 320.550 — Statewide Transit Tax - ORS 267.385 — TriMet and LTD employer payroll tax - ORS 657B — Paid Leave Oregon - ORS 656.506 — Workers' Benefit Fund - ORS 670.600 — Independent contractor definition - ORS 652.140, 652.150 — Final pay and penalty wages - ORS 652.220 — Pay Equity Act - OAR 150-267-0020, 150-267-0030 — TriMet/LTD allocation - OAR 150-316-0290 — OR-W-4 submission triggers - OAR 471-070 — Paid Leave Oregon implementation - OED Frances Online portal — replacement for OTTER (effective 2022) - DCBS WBF assessment notice — annual publication ## 14. Refusals - **Public employer (PERS-covered)** — The taxpayer is an Oregon public employer (PERS-covered) — different regime - **Agricultural employer ORS 657.045 exemption** — The taxpayer is an agricultural employer seeking the ORS 657.045 exemption analysis without documented seasonal-worker facts _(ORS 657.045)_ - **Tribal entity** — The taxpayer is a federally-recognized tribal entity — sovereignty defenses outside scope - **Railroad employees** — The request concerns railroad employees (federal RRA preempts state UI) - **Maritime employees** — The request concerns maritime employees on navigable waters - **Multistate apportionment OR/WA dispute** — The request concerns a multistate apportionment analysis where the primary work state is contested between Oregon and Washington under ORS 657.030 localization-of-work — refer to multistate workflow _(ORS 657.030)_ ## Talk to a verified accountant This skill is a tool, not an engagement. 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