Arkansas 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 Arkansas. This calculator estimates your Arkansas 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 $7,000 of each employee's wages (the 2026 Arkansas 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 1.8%. 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 Arkansas, employers pay SUTA on the first $7,000 of each employee's wages for 2026, and a new employer pays 1.8%. For 5 employees earning $50,000 each at 1.8%, the estimated annual SUTA tax is $630.00 ($126.00 per employee).
How Arkansas SUTA tax works
Arkansas charges state unemployment tax on each employee's wages up to the taxable wage base of $7,000 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 1.8%.
taxable wages per employee = min(annual wages, $7,000)
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 Arkansas at 1.8%. Each employee's taxable wages are capped at $7,000, so the tax per employee is $126.00 and the total is $630.00.
Arkansas SUTA figures (2026)
| Figure | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Taxable wage base | $7,000 | U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Unemployment Insurance |
| New employer rate | 1.8% | U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Unemployment Insurance |
| Experience rate range | 0.1% to 6% | 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: in Arkansas, the rate matters more than payroll
Arkansas anchors its SUTA to the lowest base the federal system allows, the $7,000 wage base, so only the first $7,000 of each employee's annual pay is taxed. It is the same floor Arkansas has used for years, which keeps the per-employee dollars small even when rates move. A new employer at 1.8% pays about $126 per worker per year until the account earns its own experience rating.
The experience-rated range is wide for the region, running from 0.1% all the way to 6%. Arkansas can also attach a stabilization component and an administrative assessment to the base rate, so the figure on your Arkansas Division of Workforce Services notice may not line up exactly with the headline schedule; always enter that assigned rate rather than a rule of thumb. The tax is employer-paid and is never withheld from workers' wages.
Because the base is so low, an Arkansas employer's total SUTA is far more sensitive to the rate than to how much it pays. Wages above $7,000 per person add nothing to the bill, but a one-point move on the rate schedule changes the cost for every employee at once. Keeping layoffs low, which pushes an account down toward the 0.1% floor, is the main way to control the number here.
Arkansas SUTA tax: frequently asked questions
What is the Arkansas unemployment (SUTA) taxable wage base for 2026?
For 2026, Arkansas employers pay state unemployment tax on the first $7,000 of each employee's wages. Wages above $7,000 per employee are not subject to SUTA.
What is the Arkansas new employer SUTA rate?
New employers in Arkansas pay a SUTA rate of 1.8% until they have enough history to be experience-rated. On the $7,000 wage base that is up to $126.00 per employee per year.
How is Arkansas SUTA tax calculated?
Multiply each employee's wages, capped at the $7,000 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 Arkansas SUTA rate the same for every employer?
No. After the new-employer period, Arkansas assigns each employer an experience rate based on its history of layoffs and claims, generally ranging from about 0.1% to 6% for experience-rated employers before any state add-on surcharges. 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
- Arkansas 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.