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Update your State Unemployment Insurance (SUI) rate in QuickBooks or Intuit Payroll

SOLVED•by QuickBooks•Intuit Online Payroll•640•Updated December 01, 2021

Learn how to update your State Unemployment Insurance (SUI) rate in QuickBooks or Intuit Payroll.

Your state sets your SUI rate. This rate is unique to your business. If you’re a new employer, your state assigns you a “new employer rate” until you file unemployment taxes for a certain period of time.

Whenever your SUI rate changes, you need to update it in payroll. This keeps your SUI tax liability accurate. We'll show you how.

Note: State Unemployment Insurance is only paid by the employer, unless your state is AK, NJ, or PA that requires employees to contribute.

How to update your SUI rate

Your state updates your SUI rate at the beginning or the third quarter of the year. Once you have a new SUI rate, here's how you can update it in payroll.

Note: Not sure which payroll service you have? Here's how to find your payroll service.

Here’s how to update your SUI rate:

  1. Sign in to QuickBooks Online.
  2. Go to Settings ⚙, then select Payroll settings.
  3. Next to the state you want to update, select the Edit ✎ icon.
  4. In the State Unemployment Insurance (SUI) Setup section, select Change or add new rate.
  5. Enter your new rate and its effective date. For most states the effective date is 1/1. For TN, VT, and NJ the date is 7/1.
    • If you have already created paychecks with the wrong rate, or need to correct a prior quarter rate, contact us.
  6. If you have a surcharge or assessment tax rates, enter it here as well.
  7. Enter your new rate and its effective date.
  8. Select OK to save your changes.

In QuickBooks Desktop Payroll, your SUI rate isn’t part of the normal tax table updates. You need to update it manually. Here’s how:

Note: Enter your current unemployment rate for the current and any future quarters of this calendar year. Between July and December you can add the rate for next year's first quarter.
  1. Go to the Lists menu and select Payroll Item List.
  2. Double-click [state abbreviation] - Unemployment Company.
  3. Select Next until you reach the page “Company tax rates”.
  4. Enter the correct rates for each quarter.
  5. Select Next, then Finish.

If you have surcharges or assessments

Do you have a surcharge or assessment for state unemployment? If so, you may need to update additional rates in QuickBooks.

  1. Go to the Lists menu, then select Payroll Item List.
  2. Double-click State Surcharge item.
  3. Select Next and follow the onscreen steps.
  4. On the Company Tax Rate page, enter the rate as percentage.

If you use this payroll product, contact us to update your SUI rate.

  1. Sign in to your company.
  2. Under (?) Help at the top right, select Contact Us to connect with a live support agent.
Important:

If you already created paychecks, don’t worry, just add the correct rate and its effective date. Payroll will retroactively adjust your checks to correct your tax liability.

Did you enter the wrong SUI rate? If you haven't made any paychecks with the wrong SUI rate, you can delete it.

If you already made paychecks, add the correct rate and its effective date. This retroactively adjusts your checks to correct your tax liability.

Once you get your new rate, enter it and its effective date before you make new paychecks. Don't delete past SUI rates for earlier periods.

Here’s how to update your SUI rate:

  1. Sign in to Intuit Online Payroll.
  2. Go to Setup then select State Taxes.
  3. In the State Unemployment Insurance (SUI) Setup section, select Change or add new rate.
  4. Enter your new rate and its effective date.
  5. Select OK to save your changes.

If you already ran payroll with the old SUI rate

If you added a rate from the previous quarter, the system will ask if you filed your SUI from the updated date up to the current quarter. Select Yes or No.

The system then tells you know if you already ran payroll from the effective date of the rate. It will adjust your SUI liability retroactively. Select Continue to proceed.

Note: Did you get a tax overpayment or underpayment after you changed the rate? Here's how to resolve a tax overpayment or tax underpayment.

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