Georgia 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 Georgia. This calculator estimates your Georgia 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 $9,500 of each employee's wages (the 2026 Georgia 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 2.64%. 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 Georgia, employers pay SUTA on the first $9,500 of each employee's wages for 2026, and a new employer pays 2.64%. For 5 employees earning $50,000 each at 2.64%, the estimated annual SUTA tax is $1,254.00 ($250.80 per employee).
How Georgia SUTA tax works
Georgia charges state unemployment tax on each employee's wages up to the taxable wage base of $9,500 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 2.64%.
taxable wages per employee = min(annual wages, $9,500)
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 Georgia at 2.64%. Each employee's taxable wages are capped at $9,500, so the tax per employee is $250.80 and the total is $1,254.00.
Georgia SUTA figures (2026)
| Figure | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Taxable wage base | $9,500 | U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Unemployment Insurance |
| New employer rate | 2.64% | U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Unemployment Insurance |
| Experience rate range | 0.04% to 8.1% | 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.
Why Georgia's rate range matters more than most
Georgia taxes only the first $9,500 of each employee's wages for 2026, a low base by national standards, so most full-time staff stop generating SUTA partway through the year. A new Georgia employer is assigned a 2.64% rate, which caps first-year tax at $250.80 per employee (2.64% of $9,500). Because the base is fixed, your total bill is driven mainly by how many people you employ rather than what you pay them.
Georgia has one of the widest experience-rate ranges in the country: from 0.04% at the very bottom to 8.1% at the top. On the $9,500 base that is a striking spread, roughly $3.80 per employee a year for an employer with a spotless record versus $769.50 for one carrying heavy benefit charges. Few states reward a clean layoff history as sharply, so accurate separation reporting has real financial weight in Georgia.
Two notes before you rely on a figure. The 0.04% to 8.1% band is the base statutory range; Georgia can apply an administrative assessment on top, so the rate on your annual tax notice governs. And SUTA is an employer-only tax here, never deducted from employee wages. Enter your assigned rate above in place of the 2.64% default for an exact result.
Georgia SUTA tax: frequently asked questions
What is the Georgia unemployment (SUTA) taxable wage base for 2026?
For 2026, Georgia employers pay state unemployment tax on the first $9,500 of each employee's wages. Wages above $9,500 per employee are not subject to SUTA.
What is the Georgia new employer SUTA rate?
New employers in Georgia pay a SUTA rate of 2.64% until they have enough history to be experience-rated. On the $9,500 wage base that is up to $250.80 per employee per year.
How is Georgia SUTA tax calculated?
Multiply each employee's wages, capped at the $9,500 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 Georgia SUTA rate the same for every employer?
No. After the new-employer period, Georgia assigns each employer an experience rate based on its history of layoffs and claims, generally ranging from about 0.04% to 8.1% 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
- Georgia 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.