Tenn. Code Ann. § 50-7-501 (2026)

• (a)Establishment and Control.
  • (1) There is established as a special fund, within the state treasury, an unemployment compensation fund, which shall be administered by the administrator of the division of employment security exclusively for the purposes of this chapter. This fund shall consist of all:
    • (A) Premiums collected under this chapter;
    • (B) Interest earned upon any money in the fund;
    • (C) Property or securities acquired in lieu of premiums or other liabilities to the fund;
    • (D) Earnings of the property or securities;
    • (E) Money recovered on losses sustained by the fund;
    • (F) Money credited to this state's account in the unemployment trust fund pursuant to § 903 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. § 1103);
    • (G) Money received from employers who elect to make reimbursement of benefits paid and chargeable to them in lieu of paying premiums as provided in § 50-7-403(h) and (i);
    • (H) Money received from the federal government pursuant to § 204 of the Federal-State Extended Unemployment Compensation Act of 1970; and
    • (I) Fees and administrative expenses collected under § 50-7-304(b)(2)(E)(ii) and penalties collected under § 50-7-715(b)(1).
  • (2) All money in the fund shall be commingled and undivided.

• (b)Accounts and Deposits.
  • (1) The state treasurer shall be the ex officio treasurer and custodian of the fund. Within the accounting system of the state, the fund shall be divided into three (3) separate accounts:
    • (A) A clearing account;
    • (B) An unemployment trust fund account; and
    • (C) A benefit account.
  • (2) All money payable to the fund, upon receipt of the money, shall be immediately deposited into the state treasury to the credit of the clearing account. Refunds payable pursuant to § 50-7-404 may be paid from the clearing account upon warrants originating in the office of the administrator and approved by the commissioner or a duly designated agent and countersigned by the state treasurer.
  • (3) All other collected funds in the clearing account shall be immediately transferred to and deposited with the secretary of the treasury of the United States to the credit of the account of this state in the unemployment trust fund established and maintained pursuant to § 904 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. § 1104). The benefit account shall consist of all moneys requisitioned from this state's account in the unemployment trust fund.

• (c)Withdrawals. Money shall be requisitioned from the state's account in the unemployment trust fund and shall be used exclusively for the payment of benefits, including extended benefits authorized by § 50-7-305; for refunds pursuant to § 50-7-404; and for the payment of fees authorized under the Treasury Offset Program described in § 6402 of the Internal Revenue Code (26 U.S.C. § 6402), and 31 CFR part 285, except that money credited to this state's account pursuant to § 903 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. § 1103), by the Employment Security Administration Financing Act of 1954, shall be used for the purpose of paying benefits as provided in this section, and for any purposes for which an appropriation may be made, which general appropriations act shall specifically comply with all the requirements of § 903 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. § 1103), by the Employment Security Administration Financing Act of 1954. The administrator shall, from time to time, requisition from the unemployment trust fund amounts, not exceeding the amounts standing to this state's account in the fund, the administrator deems necessary for the payment of benefits for a reasonable future period, the limits of which shall be specified by the administrator. Upon receipt of the moneys, the state treasurer shall deposit the moneys in the benefit account and all warrants for the payment of benefits shall be issued in the manner prescribed in this section and shall be payable by the state treasurer solely from the benefit account. Expenditures of the moneys in the benefit account and refunds from the clearing account shall not be subject to any law requiring specific appropriations or other formal release by state officers of money in their custody. All warrants for the payment of benefits and refunds shall originate in the office of the administrator and shall be approved by the commissioner or a duly designated agent and shall be countersigned by the state treasurer. Any balance of moneys requisitioned from the unemployment trust fund that remains unclaimed or unpaid in the benefit account after the expiration of the period for which the sums were requisitioned shall either be deducted from estimates for, and may be utilized for the payment of, benefits during succeeding periods, or, in the discretion of the administrator, shall be redeposited with the secretary of the treasury of the United States, to the credit of this state's account in the unemployment trust fund, as provided in subsection (b).

• (d)Management of Funds upon Discontinuance of Unemployment Trust Fund. Subsections (a), (b) and (c), to the extent that they relate to the unemployment trust fund, shall be operative only so long as the unemployment trust fund continues to exist and so long as the secretary of the treasury of the United States continues to maintain for this state a separate book account of all funds deposited in the fund by this state for benefit purposes, together with this state's proportionate share of the earnings of the unemployment trust fund, from which no other state is permitted to make withdrawals. If, and when, the unemployment trust fund ceases to exist, or the separate book account is no longer maintained, all moneys, properties or securities in the fund belonging to the unemployment compensation fund of this state shall be transferred to the state treasurer, who shall hold, invest, transfer, sell, deposit and release the moneys, properties or securities as the general assembly may direct in accordance with this chapter; provided, that the moneys shall be invested in the following readily marketable classes of securities, bonds or other interest-bearing obligations of the United States, or in such securities as the sinking fund of this state may now or hereafter be invested; and provided further, that investment shall at all times be so made that all the assets of the fund shall always be readily convertible into cash when needed for the payment of benefits. The state treasurer shall dispose of securities or other properties belonging to the unemployment compensation fund only under the direction of the commissioner.

Amended by 2015 Tenn. Acts, ch. 95, s 6, eff. 7/1/2015.

Acts 1947, ch. 29, § 9; C. Supp. 1950, § 6901.9 (Williams, § 6901.33); Acts 1957, ch. 146, §§ 10, 11; 1959, ch. 160, § 4; 1971, ch. 204, §§ 16, 17; T.C.A. (orig. ed.), § 50-1331; Acts 1985, ch. 118, §§ 69, 70; 1985, ch. 318, §§ 69-71; 2012 , ch. 824, §§ 4, 5.