What is FUTA and how is it calculated?

FUTA is the Federal Unemployment Tax Act tax. The gross rate is 6.0% on the first $7,000 of each employee's annual wages, but employers in states with no credit reduction get a 5.4% credit, leaving a net 0.6% — a maximum of $42 per employee per year.

What is the Rhode Island SUI rate for new employers?

Rhode Island assigns new employers a standard new-employer state unemployment insurance rate, around 1.09% for 2024, applied to the state taxable wage base of about $29,200. Established employers receive an experience rate that can be higher or lower.

What is the Rhode Island Job Development Fund assessment?

Rhode Island charges employers a Job Development Fund assessment, about 0.21% of taxable wages, on top of the SUI rate. It funds workforce training programs and is paid only by employers, not employees.

Who pays Rhode Island TDI and TCI?

Rhode Island's Temporary Disability Insurance and Temporary Caregiver Insurance are funded by employee payroll deductions, not employer contributions, so they are not part of the employer payroll tax burden modeled here.

Is there a higher SUI wage base in Rhode Island?

Yes. Rhode Island uses a higher state unemployment wage base for employers at the maximum experience rate. This calculator uses the standard taxable wage base; high-rated employers should substitute the higher base shown in the annual UI tax tables.

Rhode Island Employer Payroll Tax Calculator

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Rhode Island employers pay federal and state unemployment taxes on each employee’s wages. This calculator combines FUTA, Rhode Island state unemployment insurance, and the Job Development Fund assessment to show the employer-side payroll cost per worker.

How it works

The employer payroll tax burden has three parts, each applied to a capped wage base:

FUTA = min(annual wage, $7,000) × 0.6%      (net rate after credit)
SUI  = min(annual wage, $29,200) × SUI rate (new-employer ≈ 1.09%)
JDF  = min(annual wage, $29,200) × 0.21%    (Job Development Fund)

FUTA applies to the first 7,000 dollars of wages at a net 0.6 percent after the standard 5.4 percent credit. Rhode Island’s state unemployment insurance and the Job Development Fund both apply to the state taxable wage base, about 29,200 dollars for 2024.

Rhode Island’s Temporary Disability and Temporary Caregiver Insurance are funded by employee deductions, so they are not part of the employer total.

Example

For an employee earning 50,000 dollars, FUTA is 0.6% of 7,000 = 42 dollars, SUI at 1.09% of 29,200 = 318.28 dollars, and JDF at 0.21% of 29,200 = 61.32 dollars. The employer’s annual payroll tax for that worker is about 421.60 dollars.

Notes

Rates and wage bases change each year and your assigned SUI experience rate depends on your claims history. Employers at the maximum experience rate use a higher state wage base than shown here. Some states face a FUTA credit reduction that raises the net FUTA rate; Rhode Island has generally not. Estimate only, not tax advice — confirm at dlt.ri.gov and irs.gov.