My question: The Obligation Assessment rate for my state is .03%. The current rate is now 6.31%. Do I ADD .03% to equal 6.34%? Or do I use ONLY .03%?

Let's make sure your using the correct rate given by your state, jakillia.

Are you referring to the State Unemployment Tax (SUI)? If so, your state assigns you a new employer rate until you file unemployment taxes for a certain period of time. You'll want to update it in payroll to keep your SUI tax liability accurate. I'll show you how: 

1. Sign in to QuickBooks Online.
2. Go to Gear ⚙ icon, then select Payroll settings.
3. Select State Taxes.
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, don’t worry, QuickBooks Online will retroactively adjust your paychecks to correct your tax liability. If your rate was wrong in a previous quarter you may have an overpayment or owe extra tax money to the state and need to make a tax payment.
6. If you have a surcharge or assessment tax rate, enter it here as well.
7. Click OK to save your changes.
   
   

If you have ever doubted the rates that you'll have to use, I suggest reaching out to your tax professional or accountant to make sure that you're using the correct rate. Please read this article for more information: Find your State Unemployment Insurance (SUI) rate.

To take a closer look at your business and employees' information, here are the reports available in QuickBooks Online Payroll (QBOP): Run payroll reports.

Fill me in if you need further assistance with SUI. I'll always make sure to help you anytime.

I appreciate your answer.  I've received a letter from TX stating the current rate is 0.03%.  Currently the rate reads 6.31%.  When I enter the rate of 0.03%I get a message from Quickbooks saying "are you sure? that rate is much lower than most."

So I thought perhaps I was supposed to add the 0.03% to the existing rate.  When I added the two rates to equal 6.34% I get a message from Quickbooks saying "are you sure?  That rate is much higher than most."

So....which rate is right?  

Thanks!

Thanks for getting back to us, jakillia. Let me share some insights about the Unemployment Insurance Tax rate for 2021.

The Obligation Assessment rate of 0.03% will be added to the rate computation to cover any federal interest due on Title XII loans due on September 30, 2021.

To learn more details about this, please check out Texas reduces impact of COVID-19 on employer 2021 SUI tax rates; 2021 SUI tax rates unchanged from 2.... 

If you have any additional questions regarding the rate, please don't hesitate to add a comment. I'll be right here to help.