What payroll taxes does an Oregon employer pay?

Employers pay the employer half of FICA (6.2 percent Social Security and 1.45 percent Medicare), federal FUTA on the first 7,000 dollars of wages, Oregon state unemployment insurance on the state wage base, and 40 percent of the Oregon Paid Leave contribution.

What is the Oregon SUI tax?

Oregon's state unemployment insurance tax funds jobless benefits and applies to a taxable wage base set each year. New employers pay a standard new-employer rate until they build an experience rating, after which their rate reflects their claims history.

Federal unemployment tax is 6.0 percent on the first 7,000 dollars of each employee's wages, but employers in good standing receive a 5.4 percent credit, making the effective rate 0.6 percent or 42 dollars per employee per year.

Does Oregon have a Paid Leave payroll tax?

Yes. Paid Leave Oregon is funded by a contribution split between employee and employer, with employers paying 40 percent of the total. Very small employers may be exempt from the employer share but still withhold the employee portion.

Does this include the employee's own taxes?

No. This tool estimates only the employer-side payroll cost on top of salary. It does not include the taxes withheld from the employee's paycheck, workers' compensation premiums, or benefits costs.

Oregon Employer Payroll Tax Calculator

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Hiring in Oregon costs more than the salary you advertise. On top of wages, the employer owes several payroll taxes — federal FICA and FUTA, Oregon’s state unemployment insurance, and a share of Paid Leave Oregon. This calculator totals that employer-side burden so you can budget the true cost of a hire.

How it works

Each tax applies to a different wage base:

Employer FICA  = 6.2% Social Security (up to wage base) + 1.45% Medicare (all wages)
FUTA           = 0.6% on first $7,000  (after the 5.4% state credit)
Oregon SUI     = your SUI rate x state taxable wage base
Paid Leave     = 40% of (Paid Leave rate x wages)  (employer share)

Adding these to the salary gives the total cost of employment. The effective burden percentage is the sum of the taxes divided by the salary.

Example

For a 50,000 dollar salary at a 2.4 percent new-employer SUI rate, employer FICA is about 3,825 dollars, FUTA is 42 dollars, SUI is roughly 2.4% of the state wage base, and the employer Paid Leave share adds a few hundred dollars. The total payroll tax burden lands in the low thousands above salary.

Notes

This is a planning estimate. The Social Security wage base, Oregon’s SUI taxable wage base, the Paid Leave rate, and the small-employer exemption all change and vary by employer, so confirm current figures with oregon.gov/employ and irs.gov. Workers’ compensation and benefits are not included.