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Update your State Unemployment Insurance (SUI) rate

by Intuit•786• Updated a day ago

Learn how to update your State Unemployment Insurance (SUI) rate in QuickBooks Online Payroll or QuickBooks Desktop 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. If your rate changes, the state will send you a notice, typically at the beginning of the year.

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.

Prerequisites

A person paying another person. Payroll is where you manage contractors and employees, track employee benefits, and stay in compliance with tax and legal requirements.

If you want QuickBooks to calculate payroll for you, sign up for QuickBooks Online Payroll.

Update your SUI rate

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

QuickBooks Online Payroll

For a better experience, open this article in QuickBooks Online. Launch side-by-side view

Go to Settings ⚙, then select Payroll settings
Next to the state you want to update, select Edit ✎.
In the State Unemployment Insurance (SUI) Setup section, select Change or add new rate.
Enter your new rate and its effective date. For most states the effective date is 1/1. For NJ, TN, and NJ the date is 7/1.
- If you can't change the current quarter's rate, or if you get an error that your rate is below or above the limits, send your notice to us. We’ll update the rate for you.
Select or enter any updated surcharge or assessment rates.
Select OK.

QuickBooks Desktop Payroll

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

Go to the Lists menu and select Payroll Item List.
Double-click [state abbreviation] - Unemployment Company.
Select Next until you reach the Company tax rates window.
Enter the correct rates for each quarter.
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.

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

Result

When you change your unemployment rate in QuickBooks, future paychecks use the new rate. Previous paychecks in the same quarter are recalculated for accurate quarter-end payments.