Employer Payroll Tax Calculator

Every paycheck an employer issues carries tax obligations beyond the wage itself: FICA (Social Security and Medicare), federal unemployment tax (FUTA), and state unemployment tax (SUTA). Knowing the full per-employee burden lets you budget realistically, run compliant payroll, and weigh the true cost of each new hire. The stakes climb as wages rise: in 2026 the employer's 6.2% Social Security tax applies to the first $184,500 of each employee's wages, while the 1.45% Medicare tax has no cap.

The total here is built component by component. FICA combines 6.2% Social Security up to the wage base with 1.45% Medicare on all wages. FUTA adds 0.6% on the first $7,000 of wages: the 6.0% federal rate less the 5.4% credit for paying state unemployment tax in full and on time. Employers in a credit-reduction state lose part of that credit (for 2025, California's reduction was 1.2 points, making its FUTA rate 1.8%, or $126 per employee); the calculator does not add a reduction, so its FUTA line assumes none. SUTA layers on a variable state rate against a state-specific wage base. Each piece is computed on its own from the employee's gross wages and the relevant thresholds, then summed.

State SUTA rates and wage bases swing widely from one state to the next and shift with an employer's own experience rating, so your figure will depend heavily on where you operate and your claims history. One distinction worth drawing: the Additional Medicare Tax of 0.9% on employees earning over $200,000 falls on the worker, not the company. Because it is not an employer payroll cost, it stays out of this calculator's results.