What payroll taxes does an Arizona employer pay?

Employers pay the matching 6.2% Social Security and 1.45% Medicare (FICA), federal unemployment tax (FUTA), and Arizona state unemployment insurance (SUI). Arizona has no state-level disability or paid-family-leave payroll tax, so those are not included.

What is the FUTA rate?

FUTA is 6.0% on the first $7,000 of each employee's wages, but employers who pay state unemployment on time receive a 5.4% credit, leaving a net 0.6% — about $42 per employee per year. This tool uses the 0.6% net rate.

What is Arizona's SUI wage base and new-employer rate?

Arizona charges state unemployment insurance on the first $8,000 of wages per employee (2024). New employers are generally assigned a 2.0% rate until they build an experience rating, after which rates range roughly from 0.07% to 18.78%.

Does Arizona have a state disability or paid leave payroll tax?

No. Unlike states such as California or New York, Arizona does not levy a state disability insurance (SDI) or paid family and medical leave (PFML) payroll tax on employers, so your only state payroll tax is SUI.

Does this include the employee's share of taxes?

No. This calculator shows only the employer-side taxes you owe on top of wages. The employee's matching Social Security, Medicare, and income tax withholding come out of their pay, not yours.

Arizona Employer Payroll Tax Calculator

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Hiring in Arizona means paying employer-side payroll taxes on top of each salary. This tool totals the federal FICA match, federal unemployment tax, and Arizona’s state unemployment insurance so you know the true cost of an employee.

How it works

Employer payroll tax has three layers:

FICA   = 6.2% Social Security (to $168,600) + 1.45% Medicare (no cap)
FUTA   = 0.6% net × min(wages, 7,000)
AZ SUI = your rate × min(wages, 8,000)   [new employer ≈ 2.0%]

Social Security stops at the annual wage base; Medicare has no cap. FUTA is nominally 6.0% but the 5.4% state credit drops it to 0.6% on the first 7,000 dollars. Arizona’s unemployment insurance applies your assigned rate to the first 8,000 dollars of wages. Arizona levies no employer SDI or PFML tax.

Example

For an employee paid 50,000 dollars: FICA is 7.65% of 50,000 (3,825), FUTA is 0.6% of 7,000 (42), and SUI at 2.0% of 8,000 (160). Total employer tax is about 4,027 dollars, or roughly 8.1 percent on top of the wage.

Notes

This is an estimate. Your actual Arizona SUI rate appears on your annual determination notice from the Arizona Department of Economic Security and can be much higher or lower than the new-employer default. Workers’ compensation insurance is mandatory in Arizona but is paid to a carrier, not as a payroll tax. Verify wage bases and rates at irs.gov and des.az.gov.