What is the Mississippi SUI taxable wage base?

Mississippi unemployment insurance applies to the first $14,000 of each employee's annual wages. Your SUI rate is charged only on that base, so the maximum SUI per employee is your rate times $14,000.

What is the new-employer SUI rate in Mississippi?

New employers in Mississippi are generally assigned a state unemployment rate around 1.0% (the rate for first-year employers, plus small training and administrative add-ons). Experienced employers receive an experience-rated figure that can range roughly from 0% up to 5.4%.

Federal unemployment tax is 6.0% on the first $7,000 of each employee's wages, but employers who pay state unemployment tax on time receive a 5.4% credit, dropping the effective FUTA rate to 0.6% — a maximum of $42 per employee per year.

Does Mississippi have a disability or paid-leave payroll tax?

No. Unlike states such as California or New Jersey, Mississippi does not levy an employer or employee state disability insurance (SDI) or paid-family-and-medical-leave (PFML) payroll tax. Your employer cost is FICA, FUTA, and SUI only.

Mississippi Employer Payroll Tax Calculator

Q: What payroll taxes does a Mississippi employer pay?

Mississippi employers pay the employer half of FICA (6.2% Social Security plus 1.45% Medicare = 7.65%), federal unemployment tax (FUTA), and Mississippi state unemployment insurance (SUI). Mississippi has no state disability or paid-family-leave payroll tax.

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Hiring an employee in Mississippi costs more than the wage itself. On top of gross pay, the employer owes the FICA match, federal unemployment tax (FUTA), and Mississippi state unemployment insurance (SUI). This calculator sums those employer-side taxes.

How it works

The employer FICA match is 7.65 percent of wages — 6.2 percent for Social Security (up to the annual wage base) plus 1.45 percent for Medicare:

FICA match = min(wage, $168,600) × 0.062 + wage × 0.0145

FUTA is 6.0 percent on the first 7,000 dollars, but timely state payments earn a 5.4 percent credit, leaving an effective 0.6 percent — a maximum of 42 dollars per employee:

FUTA = min(wage, $7,000) × 0.006

Mississippi SUI applies your assigned rate to the first 14,000 dollars of wages (the state taxable wage base). New employers are typically assigned about 1.0 percent:

MS SUI = min(wage, $14,000) × SUI rate

The employer’s total payroll tax is the sum of these three. Mississippi has no state disability or paid-leave payroll tax.

Example

For a 50,000 dollar salary at a 1.0 percent SUI rate: FICA match is 50,000 × 7.65 percent = 3,825 dollars; FUTA is 7,000 × 0.6 percent = 42 dollars; MS SUI is 14,000 × 1.0 percent = 140 dollars. Total employer payroll tax is about 4,007 dollars, roughly 8 percent on top of the wage.

Notes

Estimate only. The Social Security wage base ($168,600) and FUTA credit are 2024 figures. Your actual SUI rate is experience-rated and assigned by the Mississippi Department of Employment Security; high-wage employees push the effective burden below 8 percent because FUTA and SUI are capped. Verify with MDES and IRS Form 940.