New Hampshire 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 New Hampshire. This calculator estimates your New Hampshire 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 $14,000 of each employee's wages (the 2026 New Hampshire 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 2.7%. 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 New Hampshire, employers pay SUTA on the first $14,000 of each employee's wages for 2026, and a new employer pays 2.7%. For 5 employees earning $50,000 each at 2.7%, the estimated annual SUTA tax is $1,890.00 ($378.00 per employee).
How New Hampshire SUTA tax works
New Hampshire charges state unemployment tax on each employee's wages up to the taxable wage base of $14,000 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 2.7%.
taxable wages per employee = min(annual wages, $14,000)
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 New Hampshire at 2.7%. Each employee's taxable wages are capped at $14,000, so the tax per employee is $378.00 and the total is $1,890.00.
New Hampshire SUTA figures (2026)
| Figure | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Taxable wage base | $14,000 | U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Unemployment Insurance |
| New employer rate | 2.7% | 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 the rate matters more than the base in New Hampshire
New Hampshire keeps unemployment tax simple at the top: the 2026 taxable wage base is just $14,000 per employee, one of the lowest in the country. SUTA applies only to the first $14,000 you pay each worker in the year, so once someone crosses that threshold you owe nothing further on their wages. A new New Hampshire employer pays a fixed 2.7% while building an experience history, which caps the first-year cost at $378.00 per employee, a modest figure by national standards.
Because the base is so small, the rate you are eventually assigned matters more than the base does. New Hampshire reviews employer tax rates quarterly and can add or remove a fund-balance adjustment depending on the health of the state trust fund, so your effective percentage can move during the year rather than sitting fixed for twelve months. That makes it worth checking each quarterly notice rather than assuming the rate you started with still applies.
Remember that SUTA in New Hampshire is an employer-only tax: it is never deducted from employee paychecks. For planning, apply your assigned rate to $14,000 per head, not to full salaries, and swap the default 2.7% in the calculator above for the exact rate on your state notice to see your true liability.
New Hampshire SUTA tax: frequently asked questions
What is the New Hampshire unemployment (SUTA) taxable wage base for 2026?
For 2026, New Hampshire employers pay state unemployment tax on the first $14,000 of each employee's wages. Wages above $14,000 per employee are not subject to SUTA.
What is the New Hampshire new employer SUTA rate?
New employers in New Hampshire pay a SUTA rate of 2.7% until they have enough history to be experience-rated. On the $14,000 wage base that is up to $378.00 per employee per year.
How is New Hampshire SUTA tax calculated?
Multiply each employee's wages, capped at the $14,000 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 New Hampshire SUTA rate the same for every employer?
No. After the new-employer period, New Hampshire 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
- New Hampshire 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.