Unemployment taxes

If you have employees working in Washington, you likely must pay unemployment taxes on their wages in this state. Tax reports or tax and wage reports are due quarterly. Liable employers must submit a tax report every quarter, even if there are no paid employees that quarter or taxes are unable to be paid.

• New employer webinar video.
• New employer webinar slide deck.
• Learn about reimbursable employers.
• Understand how tax-rate factors may affect your employer taxes.

Employer tips and information

Register your business/hire employees | Law and regulations | Frequently asked questions | Contact information by topic | Reporting fraud

On this page:

Filing wage reports and paying unemployment taxes

Refer to the About the Employer Account Management Services (EAMS) page. 

Pay taxes only

Use EAMS to pay your unemployment taxes online.

Note: If you use paper forms to file your taxes, we will send you the forms in the mail. You must use the current, original forms we send you or you might receive a penalty. To request the latest forms, Email OlympiaAMC@esd.wa.gov.

Unemployment tax rates

Review the basis for your unemployment taxes:

• What you pay unemployment taxes on
• Taxable wage base
• How we determine your unemployment tax rate
• Common notices sent to employers

Calculate your unemployment taxes:

• 2024 unemployment tax rate calculator (xls)
• 2024 unemployment tax rate table (pdf)

Learn more about how to appeal if you disagree with your unemployment tax rate. 

Penalties

Learn more about penalties for:

• Late reports
• Late tax payments
• Incomplete reports
• Not registering your business

Request a tax-penalty waiver  |  Set up a payment plan

Who and what to report

What to include in unemployment taxes

• Basic reporting requirements
• No-payroll reports
• Zero-hour reports
• Domestic services
• Corporate officers (optional)

Who is excluded from unemployment taxes

• Independent contractors
• Exempt employees

Other information

• Report new hires to DSHS (required)
• Public works contracts
• FUTA - IRS 940 certification or recertification

Reminders

• Keep complete records
• SSN reporting requirements

Filing reports for clients

• Professional Employer Organizations (PEO)
• Third-party administrators

Unemployment Insurance is a federal-state partnership 

Program parameters come from both federal statute and guidance and state statute and rules.

 
Every state has a UI trust fund

States deposit employer tax dollars in individual UI trust funds for paying future benefits.

• ESD produces Washington’s UI trust fund forecast report three times per year.
• Find current and archived reports on ESD's labor market page for the trust fund.

Employers pay two types of taxes: state (SUTA) and federal (FUTA)

• SUTA taxes fund benefit payments for claimants. They’re deposited in the state’s UI trust fund.
• FUTA taxes are administered at the federal level. They’re used for oversight of state unemployment programs. During times of high unemployment, states may borrow from FUTA funds, helping provide benefits to locally unemployed people.

State Unemployment Taxes (SUTA)

An employee’s wages are taxable up to an amount called the taxable wage base, authorized in RCW 50.24.010. This taxable wage base for 2024 is $68,500, increasing from $67,600 in 2023.

Experience tax currently capped at 5.4% (RCW 50.29.025(1)(a)(ii))

• Annual tax calculation based on the ratio of benefit claims of former employees charged to the employer and taxable wages reported by the employer over the preceding four fiscal years.
• Employers are placed in one of 40 rate classes based on former employees’ use of UI program.

Flat social tax currently capped at 0.85% (RCW 50.29.025)

• Shared-cost tax, based on costs from the previous year for benefit payments that can’t be attributed to specific employers.
• State law instructs ESD to adjust the flat social tax rate based on the employer’s rate class.
• The flat social tax was capped at 0.50% for 2021, 0.50% for 2022 and 0.75% for 2023. It is capped at 0.85% for 2024 and 0.90% for 2025. In all other years, the flat social tax is capped at 1.22%. 

The total of the experience tax and the social tax can’t exceed 6%.

Solvency tax is waived (RCW 50.29.041)

• For taxes paid for 2021 through 2025, the solvency surcharge is currently waived.
• For all other years, state statute requires ESD to assess a solvency surcharge when the UI trust fund has less than seven months of benefits as of Sept. 30.
• The solvency surcharge will be the lowest possible rate needed to get the UI trust fund back up to nine months of benefits. ESD assesses the solvency tax for the following calendar year. 

Federal Unemployment Taxes (FUTA)

Because Washington’s unemployment program conforms to federal law, state employers pay a FUTA tax of 0.6% on the first $7,000 of each employee’s wages. 

Audits

Employers' records are audited to ensure that wages and hours are accurately reported as required by Washington state's unemployment-insurance laws and rules. Being selected for audit does not mean you violated any laws or rules.

• Learn more about audits
• Working with us during an audit
• Common findings
• What happens after an audit (pdf)
• Appealing audit findings