Nebraska 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 Nebraska. This calculator estimates your Nebraska 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 $9,000 of each employee's wages (the 2026 Nebraska 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 1.25%. 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 Nebraska, employers pay SUTA on the first $9,000 of each employee's wages for 2026, and a new employer pays 1.25%. For 5 employees earning $50,000 each at 1.25%, the estimated annual SUTA tax is $562.50 ($112.50 per employee).
How Nebraska SUTA tax works
Nebraska charges state unemployment tax on each employee's wages up to the taxable wage base of $9,000 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 1.25%.
taxable wages per employee = min(annual wages, $9,000)
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 Nebraska at 1.25%. Each employee's taxable wages are capped at $9,000, so the tax per employee is $112.50 and the total is $562.50.
Nebraska SUTA figures (2026)
| Figure | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Taxable wage base | $9,000 | U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Unemployment Insurance |
| Wage base (high-rate / delinquent) | $24,000 | U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Unemployment Insurance |
| New employer rate | 1.25% | U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Unemployment Insurance |
| Experience rate range | 0% 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.
Nebraska's wage-base penalty, explained
Nebraska builds an unusual penalty straight into its wage base. Most employers pay unemployment tax on the first $9,000 of each worker's wages, but employers assigned to the highest rate category pay on a much larger $24,000 base. That near-triple jump means a business with a poor claims record is taxed on nearly three times as much wage per employee as one in good standing, so the wage base itself becomes part of the experience-rating penalty, not just the rate.
For a new employer, the numbers that apply are the $9,000 base and a fixed 1.25% new-employer rate, which comes to $112.50 per employee per year, one of the lighter first-year unemployment costs in the country. The experience-rated range runs from 0% up to 5.4%, with that 5.4% ceiling aligned to the standard federal FUTA credit so that employers who pay their state tax in full keep the full federal offset.
Expect to hold the 1.25% rate while the Nebraska Department of Labor accumulates enough claims history to assign you a combined tax rate, generally over your first several years. The default here is the statutory new-employer figure; replace it with the rate on your annual Nebraska tax-rate notice for an exact number, and keep in mind that staying out of the top rate category is what keeps you on the $9,000 base rather than the $24,000 one.
Nebraska SUTA tax: frequently asked questions
What is the Nebraska unemployment (SUTA) taxable wage base for 2026?
For 2026, Nebraska employers pay state unemployment tax on the first $9,000 of each employee's wages. Wages above $9,000 per employee are not subject to SUTA. Employers at the highest rate (or delinquent employers) use a higher base of $24,000.
What is the Nebraska new employer SUTA rate?
New employers in Nebraska pay a SUTA rate of 1.25% until they have enough history to be experience-rated. On the $9,000 wage base that is up to $112.50 per employee per year.
How is Nebraska SUTA tax calculated?
Multiply each employee's wages, capped at the $9,000 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 Nebraska SUTA rate the same for every employer?
No. After the new-employer period, Nebraska assigns each employer an experience rate based on its history of layoffs and claims, generally ranging from about 0% 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
- Nebraska 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.