What payroll taxes does a Wisconsin employer pay?

An employer pays a 6.2% Social Security match up to the annual wage base, a 1.45% Medicare match with no cap, federal FUTA, and Wisconsin state unemployment insurance (UI). Wisconsin has no employer disability or paid-family-leave tax, unlike some states.

What is the effective FUTA rate?

FUTA is nominally 6.0% on the first $7,000 of wages, but employers who pay their state unemployment tax on time receive a 5.4% credit. That leaves a net effective rate of 0.6%, a maximum of $42 per employee per year.

What is Wisconsin's UI wage base and new-employer rate?

Wisconsin charges UI tax on the first $14,000 of each employee's annual wages. New non-construction employers are typically assigned a 3.05% rate; established employers receive an experience rate that can range from roughly 0.00% to 12.00% based on their layoff history.

Does Wisconsin have an employer disability or paid leave tax?

No. Unlike California, New York, or Washington, Wisconsin does not levy a state disability insurance (SDI) or paid family and medical leave (PFML) employer tax. Those lines are zero for Wisconsin employers.

What is the true cost of a Wisconsin employee?

It is the gross wage plus all employer payroll taxes. For a typical worker the added employer tax is roughly 8 to 9 percent of wages, before benefits, workers' compensation insurance, and overhead, which add more on top.

Wisconsin Employer Payroll Tax Calculator

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Hiring in Wisconsin costs more than the salary you quote. On top of wages, an employer owes matching Social Security and Medicare, federal unemployment tax, and Wisconsin’s state unemployment insurance. This calculator adds all four to show the true cost of a Wisconsin employee.

How it works

Four employer taxes are summed:

Social Security = 6.2%  × min(wages, 168,600)
Medicare        = 1.45% × wages                 (no cap)
FUTA (net)      = 0.6%  × min(wages, 7,000)
Wisconsin SUI   = your rate × min(wages, 14,000)

The Social Security match stops at the annual wage base. FUTA is effectively 0.6 percent after the 5.4 percent state credit, capping at 42 dollars per worker per year. Wisconsin charges UI only on the first 14,000 dollars of pay; the default rate is the 3.05 percent assigned to new non-construction employers, but you can enter your own experience rate.

Example

For an employee earning 50,000 dollars, the employer pays 3,100 dollars Social Security, 725 dollars Medicare, 42 dollars FUTA, and 427 dollars Wisconsin UI at 3.05 percent — about 4,294 dollars total, roughly 8.6 percent of wages. The true cost of that employee is about 54,294 dollars before benefits.

Notes

Wisconsin assigns each employer an annual UI tax rate based on its reserve balance and layoff history, so your real rate may differ from the 3.05 percent default. Construction employers have a separate, higher new-employer rate. This estimate excludes workers’ compensation insurance, benefits, and overhead, which add materially to the true cost of an employee. Verify current figures at dwd.wisconsin.gov and irs.gov.