Beginning this month, the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration made changes to their 2022 hazardous waste environmental fee rates.  In doing so, they helped small operations with less than 100 employees, but severely penalized those with 500 or more employees.  Currently, organizations operating in California with 50 or more employees who are each employed more than 500 hours in California during the prior calendar year, must file and pay the environmental fee.  Starting January 1, 2022, the employee threshold will increase from 50 employees to 100 employees.  The new rates will be paid beginning with the company’s 2022 filing due on February 28, 2023.  For this year’s filing, due February 28, 2022, the rates remain in place.  Here is the new schedule as compared to the current schedule:

Number of Employees	2021	2022
1 to 49	$0	$0
50 to 74	$357	$0
75 to 99	$627	$0
100 to 249	$1,244	$1,261
250 to 499	$2,669	$2,706
500 to 999	$4,985	$16,000
1000 or more	$16,911	$54,100

 

According to the State, the fee is collected on behalf of the Department of Toxic Substances Control and supports protection of California’s communities and the environment.  The fees are accessed to almost organizations, because they use, generate, store, or conduct activities in the state related to hazardous materials (activities related to hazardous materials include the use of products such as paper, ink, plastics, paint, etc., which were manufactured using hazardous materials).