Arizona SUTA Tax Calculator
Figure basis: Official U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Unemployment InsuranceState Unemployment Tax Act (SUTA) tax is the state unemployment insurance tax that employers pay to fund unemployment benefits in Arizona. This calculator estimates your Arizona SUTA liability for the 2026 tax year. Enter the average annual wages per employee, your number of employees, and your assigned SUTA rate to see the taxable wages, tax per employee, and total tax. SUTA is charged only on the first $8,000 of each employee's wages (the 2026 Arizona taxable wage base); wages above that per employee are not taxed. Your rate is set by the state based on your business's unemployment claim history (your "experience rating"); a new employer pays 2%. SUTA is separate from the federal FUTA tax and, in most states, is paid entirely by the employer and never deducted from employee wages. All wage-base and rate figures are sourced from U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Unemployment Insurance and verified for 2026. Replace the default rate with the rate on your state tax-rate notice for an exact figure.
In Arizona, employers pay SUTA on the first $8,000 of each employee's wages for 2026, and a new employer pays 2%. For 5 employees earning $50,000 each at 2%, the estimated annual SUTA tax is $800.00 ($160.00 per employee).
How Arizona SUTA tax works
Arizona charges state unemployment tax on each employee's wages up to the taxable wage base of $8,000 for 2026. Once an employee has earned that much in the year, no further SUTA is due on that employee. Your rate is assigned by the state from your experience rating; a new employer pays 2%.
taxable wages per employee = min(annual wages, $8,000)
SUTA tax per employee = taxable wages per employee x rate / 100
total SUTA tax = SUTA tax per employee x number of employees
Worked example: 5 employees each earning $50,000 in Arizona at 2%. Each employee's taxable wages are capped at $8,000, so the tax per employee is $160.00 and the total is $800.00.
Arizona SUTA figures (2026)
| Figure | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Taxable wage base | $8,000 | U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Unemployment Insurance |
| New employer rate | 2% | U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Unemployment Insurance |
The experience-rate range shown is the base statutory range. Most states add mandatory assessments on top (for example a fund-building, solvency, or administrative surcharge), so an employer's effective rate can be higher than the range shown, and the new-employer rate may exclude those add-ons. Your exact assigned rate is on your annual state tax-rate notice.
Editor's insight: Arizona's raised base and missing rate band
Arizona is a recent mover on its wage base. For decades it taxed only the first $7,000 of wages, the federal floor, but it has since lifted the taxable wage base to $8,000, and that $8,000 base applies for 2026. New employers pay a flat 2% until enough history builds to earn an experience rating, which works out to a maximum of about $160 per employee per year at the current base.
Unlike most state pages here, this calculator does not show a fixed experience-rate range for Arizona, and that is deliberate: your assigned rate depends on your account's reserve ratio and the year's tax-rate schedule set by the Arizona Department of Economic Security, not on a single published band. The single most important number to enter is therefore the rate printed on your annual Arizona tax-rate notice, not a rough estimate.
SUTA in Arizona is entirely an employer cost and is never deducted from employee pay. With the base capped at $8,000, most workers reach the ceiling early in the year, so the tax is front-loaded into the first quarter or two of payroll and then stops. That timing matters for cash flow: an employer's unemployment cost is heaviest in January through spring and lighter in the back half of the year.
Arizona SUTA tax: frequently asked questions
What is the Arizona unemployment (SUTA) taxable wage base for 2026?
For 2026, Arizona employers pay state unemployment tax on the first $8,000 of each employee's wages. Wages above $8,000 per employee are not subject to SUTA.
What is the Arizona new employer SUTA rate?
New employers in Arizona pay a SUTA rate of 2% until they have enough history to be experience-rated. On the $8,000 wage base that is up to $160.00 per employee per year.
How is Arizona SUTA tax calculated?
Multiply each employee's wages, capped at the $8,000 taxable wage base, by your assigned experience rate, then add up across employees. SUTA is primarily an employer-paid tax and is not deducted from employee pay.
Is the Arizona SUTA rate the same for every employer?
No. After the new-employer period, Arizona assigns each employer an experience rate based on its history of layoffs and claims. The rate field above defaults to the new-employer rate; replace it with the rate on your state tax notice for an exact figure.
Official sources
- Arizona unemployment taxable wage base and rates (tax year 2026): U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Unemployment Insurance, as at Jul 15, 2026.
Reviewed by the CalculatorHub team, edited by James Graham, 15 July 2026. See our methodology. General information, not tax or legal advice.