Does Alaska have an employer state income tax withholding?

No. Alaska has no state personal income tax, so there is no state income tax withholding for employers to manage. The main state-level employer cost is the unemployment insurance (SUI) contribution.

What is the Alaska SUI wage base and rate?

Alaska sets an annual taxable wage base (around $49,700 in 2024) and assigns each employer an experience-rated SUI rate. New employers pay an industry-average rate that has recently been near 1.0-2.4% of wages up to the wage base. Unusually, Alaska is one of the few states where employees also pay a small SUI share.

Does Alaska have SDI or state PFML employer taxes?

No. Alaska has no state disability insurance (SDI) program and no state paid family and medical leave (PFML) payroll tax. This keeps the Alaska employer burden lower than states like California or Washington that levy those additional contributions.

How much is FUTA per employee?

Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA) is 6.0% on the first $7,000 of each employee's wages, but most employers receive a 5.4% credit for paying state unemployment taxes on time, leaving an effective 0.6% (about $42 per employee per year).

Is this a complete payroll tax figure?

This covers the major employer-side payroll taxes: FUTA, Alaska SUI, and the employer share of Social Security and Medicare. It does not include workers' compensation insurance premiums, benefits, or local levies, which vary by employer and policy.

Alaska Employer Payroll Tax Calculator

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The Alaska employer payroll tax calculator estimates your total per-employee payroll tax burden for workers in Alaska. Because Alaska has no state income tax, no SDI, and no state PFML, the employer-side picture is simpler than most states — the main state cost is unemployment insurance (SUI).

How it works

Employer payroll taxes stack four components, each with its own wage cap:

employer FUTA   = 0.6% x min(wages, $7,000)
employer SUI    = SUI rate x min(wages, AK wage base)
employer SS     = 6.2% x min(wages, SS wage base $168,600)
employer Medicare = 1.45% x wages (no cap)
total = FUTA + SUI + SS + Medicare

FUTA is 6.0% on the first $7,000, but the standard 5.4% credit for timely state UI payments drops it to an effective 0.6%.
Alaska SUI applies your experience-rated rate to wages up to the state wage base (about $49,700). New employers use the industry-average rate.
FICA (Social Security 6.2% up to the federal wage base, Medicare 1.45% uncapped) is federal and applies in every state.

Worked example

An employee earning $60,000 with a 2.0% SUI rate:

FUTA: 0.6% x $7,000 = $42
SUI: 2.0% x $49,700 = $994
Social Security: 6.2% x $60,000 = $3,720
Medicare: 1.45% x $60,000 = $870
Total employer payroll tax: $5,626

Tips and notes

Get your exact SUI rate from your annual Alaska Department of Labor rate notice — it is experience-rated and varies year to year.
Wage bases reset each January. Once an employee crosses a cap, that component stops accruing for the rest of the year.
Not included: workers’ compensation premiums, the employee’s own SUI share, and benefits — those are separate from the taxes shown here.