Idaho 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 Idaho. This calculator estimates your Idaho 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 $58,300 of each employee's wages (the 2026 Idaho 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%. 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 Idaho, employers pay SUTA on the first $58,300 of each employee's wages for 2026, and a new employer pays 1%. For 5 employees earning $50,000 each at 1%, the estimated annual SUTA tax is $2,500.00 ($500.00 per employee).
How Idaho SUTA tax works
Idaho charges state unemployment tax on each employee's wages up to the taxable wage base of $58,300 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%.
taxable wages per employee = min(annual wages, $58,300)
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 Idaho at 1%. Each employee's taxable wages are capped at $58,300, so the tax per employee is $500.00 and the total is $2,500.00.
Idaho SUTA figures (2026)
| Figure | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Taxable wage base | $58,300 | U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Unemployment Insurance |
| New employer rate | 1% | U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Unemployment Insurance |
| Experience rate range | 0.208% to 5.4% | 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.
Idaho's high base, low new-employer rate, explained
Idaho pairs a high wage base with a low new-employer rate. For 2026 SUTA applies to the first $58,300 of each employee's wages, among the higher bases in the country, so you keep paying unemployment tax on a worker well into the year. A new Idaho employer, however, is assigned just 1%, which holds first-year tax to $583.00 per employee (1% of $58,300), a gentle entry point despite the large base.
Once your account is experience-rated, Idaho's assigned rates run from 0.208% to 5.4%. On the $58,300 base that spans roughly $121.26 per employee a year at the floor to $3,148.20 at the ceiling, a wide gap in absolute dollars precisely because the base is so large. That makes your claims history unusually consequential: moving up or down even a point or two changes the bill by hundreds of dollars per worker.
Two practical notes. The 0.208% to 5.4% band is the base statutory range; Idaho's total rate can include a workforce and administrative reserve component, so the figure on your annual tax-rate notice is authoritative. And SUTA is an employer-only tax here, never deducted from pay. Replace the 1% default above with your assigned rate for an exact Idaho liability.
Idaho SUTA tax: frequently asked questions
What is the Idaho unemployment (SUTA) taxable wage base for 2026?
For 2026, Idaho employers pay state unemployment tax on the first $58,300 of each employee's wages. Wages above $58,300 per employee are not subject to SUTA.
What is the Idaho new employer SUTA rate?
New employers in Idaho pay a SUTA rate of 1% until they have enough history to be experience-rated. On the $58,300 wage base that is up to $583.00 per employee per year.
How is Idaho SUTA tax calculated?
Multiply each employee's wages, capped at the $58,300 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 Idaho SUTA rate the same for every employer?
No. After the new-employer period, Idaho assigns each employer an experience rate based on its history of layoffs and claims, generally ranging from about 0.208% to 5.4% 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
- Idaho 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.