What payroll taxes does a Maine employer pay?

A Maine employer pays the employer share of FICA (6.2% Social Security + 1.45% Medicare), net FUTA of 0.6% on the first 7,000 dollars of wages, Maine state unemployment (SUI) on the 12,000 dollar wage base, and the employer share of Maine Paid Family and Medical Leave.

What is the Maine SUI wage base and rate?

Maine's unemployment taxable wage base is 12,000 dollars per employee per year. The new-employer rate is roughly 1.93% including the Competitive Skills Scholarship Fund assessment; experienced employers receive an assigned rate that you can enter to override the default.

How much is FUTA per employee?

FUTA is 6.0% on the first 7,000 dollars of wages, but employers who pay state unemployment tax on time get a 5.4% credit, leaving a net rate of 0.6% — a maximum of about 42 dollars per employee per year.

Does Maine have a paid family leave employer tax?

Yes. Maine's Paid Family and Medical Leave program collects about 1% of wages, split between employer and employee for larger employers. The calculator includes an optional employer share of roughly 0.5% so you can model the full cost.

Does this include the employee's own taxes?

No. This shows only employer-side taxes — what the company pays on top of wages. The employee separately has their own FICA and income tax withheld; use the Maine Paycheck Calculator for the worker's net pay.

Maine Employer Payroll Tax Calculator

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Hiring in Maine costs more than the salary itself. On top of wages, the employer pays its share of FICA, federal FUTA unemployment tax, Maine state unemployment (SUI), and the employer portion of Maine’s Paid Family and Medical Leave program. This calculator adds them up so you can see the true cost of an employee and the effective burden as a percentage of pay.

How it works

Each tax applies to its own wage base, so the calculator caps wages per tax before applying the rate:

Employer FICA. Social Security at 6.2% up to the annual wage base, plus Medicare at 1.45% on all wages (no employer match on the additional Medicare surtax).
FUTA. Net 0.6% on the first $7,000 of wages, assuming you pay SUI on time (the gross 6.0% rate less the 5.4% state credit) — about $42 per employee.
Maine SUI. Your experience rate (default new-employer ~1.93%, including the CSSF assessment) on the first $12,000 of wages.
Maine PFML (optional). An employer share of about 0.5% of all wages for Maine’s Paid Family and Medical Leave program.

The total is your employer payroll tax; adding wages gives the true cost of the role.

Tips and example

For an employee earning $50,000, the employer pays Social Security $3,100 and Medicare $725 (FICA $3,825), FUTA $42 (capped at $7,000), Maine SUI of $12,000 x 1.93% = $231.60, and optional PFML of $50,000 x 0.5% = $250 — roughly $4,349 of employer taxes, making the true cost about $54,349.

Your real SUI rate is assigned by the Maine Department of Labor based on your claims experience, so enter it for accuracy. PFML rates and the employer/employee split depend on headcount, so confirm current figures at maine.gov before budgeting.