Gera Tools

New Jersey Employer Payroll Tax Calculator

Compute your total employer payroll tax burden for New Jersey employees.

Calculates employer-side payroll taxes for New Jersey staff: federal FUTA, the employer share of Social Security and Medicare (FICA), and New Jersey state unemployment insurance (SUI) at the new-employer rate on the state taxable wage base.

What payroll taxes do New Jersey employers pay?

Employers pay the employer share of Social Security (6.2%) and Medicare (1.45%), federal FUTA, and New Jersey state unemployment insurance (SUI). Employees separately fund the small worker contributions for SUI, SDI, and family leave through withholding.

Hiring in New Jersey adds employer payroll taxes on top of every employee’s wage. This calculator totals the employer side: federal FUTA, the employer share of Social Security and Medicare (FICA), and New Jersey state unemployment insurance (SUI) on the state taxable wage base.

How it works

Employer payroll tax in New Jersey is the sum of several components:

  1. Employer FICA. Social Security is 6.2% on wages up to the Social Security wage base ($168,600 for 2024); Medicare is 1.45% on all wages with no cap.
  2. FUTA. The federal unemployment tax is 6.0% on the first $7,000 of wages, but employers paying state unemployment on time receive a 5.4% credit, leaving an effective 0.6% federal rate.
  3. New Jersey SUI. State unemployment insurance applies the employer’s assigned rate (new employers ~2.8%) to the New Jersey taxable wage base. In formula form each piece is wageInBase x rate, and the total is added on top of gross wages.

Tips and example

For an employee earning $50,000: employer Social Security is $50,000 x 6.2% = $3,100, Medicare is $725, FUTA is $7,000 x 0.6% = $42, and New Jersey SUI at 2.8% on a $42,300 wage base is about $1,184. The total employer payroll tax is roughly $5,051 on top of the wage.

Your true SUI rate changes with your experience rating after a few years, so update the SUI rate field once you receive your annual rate notice. The taxable wage bases also change yearly — adjust them to match the current year.