Fringe Benefits Pool Rate Proposal
Overview
Employer-paid fringe benefits and taxes are calculated as a percentage of the applicable employee group’s earnings.
Tax Services calculates the annual fringe benefit pooled rates and prepares the proposal for Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) review and approval. The approved benefit rates are then assessed to departments based on employee earnings, regardless of UF funding source.
Procedures
- Tax Services queries employee earnings and the employer’s costs of benefits and taxes for the fiscal year, using Enterprise Analytics, General Ledger, and other subsystem data.
- Fringe rates are calculated by employee group (currently eight different groups) using general ledger data (see UF HR Management Resources: Fringe Benefits Pool).
- Tax Services prepares the proposal using a base fiscal year plus projected earnings and benefit activity for the year to which the new rates will apply. The federal government also requires that we include in the proposed rates any over/(under) collections from prior years.
- Once the proposed rates are calculated and reviewed internally, UF submits the data to our federal cognizant agency (DHHS) for approval.
- Upon receipt of federal approval, the updated rates are populated in myUFL for the first payroll of the new fiscal year.
Definitions
Pooled Fringe Benefit Rate
The employer’s share of fringe benefits and taxes for its employees. Note that the pooled rates have no impact on the employee’s cost of benefits. Pooled fringe benefit rates include the following costs:
- FICA OASDI (Social Security)
- FICA Medicare
- Health Insurance (including for graduate assistant and postdoctoral associates)
- Retirement
- Life Insurance
- Clinical Disability Insurance
- Worker’s Compensation
- Unemployment Compensation
- Eligible Leave Cash Outs
- Sick Leave Pool payments*
- Advanced Parental Leave payments*
*The new UF Paid Family Leave program, which began in January 2021, is not included beginning with the FY2022-23 fringe rates, since these costs are charged to the department as the awarded leave is used. The UF Paid Parental Leave and Sick Leave Pool programs, which existed prior to January 2021, continue to be used by qualifying employees and are included in the fringe rates.
Last Reviewed
Last reviewed on 03/05/2024
Resources:
UF HR Management Resources: Fringe Benefits Pool
Contacts
Tax Services: (352) 294-7266