New Jersey SUTA Tax Calculator
Figure basis: Official New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce DevelopmentState Unemployment Tax Act (SUTA) tax is the state unemployment insurance tax that employers pay to fund unemployment benefits in New Jersey. This calculator estimates your New Jersey 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 $44,800 of each employee's wages (the 2026 New Jersey 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 2.8%. 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 New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development and verified for 2026. Replace the default rate with the rate on your state tax-rate notice for an exact figure.
In New Jersey, employers pay SUTA on the first $44,800 of each employee's wages for 2026, and a new employer pays 2.8%. For 5 employees earning $50,000 each at 2.8%, the estimated annual SUTA tax is $6,272.00 ($1,254.40 per employee).
How New Jersey SUTA tax works
New Jersey charges state unemployment tax on each employee's wages up to the taxable wage base of $44,800 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 2.8%.
taxable wages per employee = min(annual wages, $44,800)
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 Jersey at 2.8%. Each employee's taxable wages are capped at $44,800, so the tax per employee is $1,254.40 and the total is $6,272.00.
New Jersey SUTA figures (2026)
| Figure | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Taxable wage base | $44,800 | New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development |
| New employer rate | 2.8% | New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development |
| Experience rate range | 0.5% to 5.8% | New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development |
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.
New Jersey's fiscal-year SUTA, explained for employers
New Jersey runs its unemployment tax on a fiscal-year cycle, which trips up employers used to a calendar-year rate. The rates for the year that started in July 2025 and runs through June 2026 come from Table C, and a new employer pays a combined 2.8% on the taxable wage base of $44,800. That 2.8% is actually two pieces stacked together: 2.6825% for unemployment insurance and 0.1175% for the state Workforce Development and Supplemental Workforce funds. At the full base, a new employer's first-year cost tops out near $1,254.40 per worker.
After you earn an experience rating, New Jersey assigns a rate from 0.5% to 5.8%, so a strong claims record can cut your cost to about $224.00 per employee while a heavy layoff history can push it toward $2,598.40. Because the schedule resets each July rather than each January, plan for the possibility that your rate shifts partway through your own budget year.
Apply your assigned percentage only to the first $44,800 of each employee's pay; wages above that are exempt. Confirm the exact rate on the notice New Jersey sends you, then enter it in the calculator above in place of the default to see your precise SUTA liability for the year.
New Jersey SUTA tax: frequently asked questions
What is the New Jersey unemployment (SUTA) taxable wage base for 2026?
For 2026, New Jersey employers pay state unemployment tax on the first $44,800 of each employee's wages. Wages above $44,800 per employee are not subject to SUTA.
What is the New Jersey new employer SUTA rate?
New employers in New Jersey pay a SUTA rate of 2.8% until they have enough history to be experience-rated. On the $44,800 wage base that is up to $1,254.40 per employee per year.
How is New Jersey SUTA tax calculated?
Multiply each employee's wages, capped at the $44,800 taxable wage base, by your assigned experience rate, then add up across employees. SUTA is primarily an employer-paid tax, but New Jersey also collects a separate employee unemployment contribution withheld from worker pay; this calculator covers the employer portion only.
Is the New Jersey SUTA rate the same for every employer?
No. After the new-employer period, New Jersey assigns each employer an experience rate based on its history of layoffs and claims, generally ranging from about 0.5% to 5.8% 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
- New Jersey unemployment taxable wage base and rates (tax year 2026): New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development, 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.