North Dakota 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 North Dakota. This calculator estimates your North Dakota 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 $46,600 of each employee's wages (the 2026 North Dakota 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 North Dakota, employers pay SUTA on the first $46,600 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 $2,330.00 ($466.00 per employee).
How North Dakota SUTA tax works
North Dakota charges state unemployment tax on each employee's wages up to the taxable wage base of $46,600 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, $46,600)
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 North Dakota at 1%. Each employee's taxable wages are capped at $46,600, so the tax per employee is $466.00 and the total is $2,330.00.
North Dakota SUTA figures (2026)
| Figure | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Taxable wage base | $46,600 | 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 | 0.07% to 9.67% | 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.
Planning for North Dakota's high wage base
North Dakota sits at the opposite end from the low-base states: its 2026 taxable wage base is $46,600 per employee, one of the highest in the country. That means SUTA applies to the first $46,600 you pay each worker, so more of a typical salary is taxed here than in states with a $14,000 or $17,600 base. A new North Dakota employer starts at a fixed 1.0%, which on that base is $466.00 per employee for the year.
The wide experience-rated schedule is the other thing to plan for. Once North Dakota has your claims history, your rate can fall as low as 0.07% or climb as high as 9.67%. At the floor that is only about $32.62 per employee, but at the ceiling it reaches roughly $4,506.22 per employee, one of the steepest per-worker SUTA costs of any state. The combination of a high base and a high maximum rate makes your layoff record especially expensive to get wrong in North Dakota.
SUTA is an employer-only tax and is never deducted from employee wages. For a reliable budget, apply your assigned rate to $46,600 per head rather than to full pay, and swap the default 1.0% in the calculator above for the exact rate on your North Dakota notice to see your true liability.
North Dakota SUTA tax: frequently asked questions
What is the North Dakota unemployment (SUTA) taxable wage base for 2026?
For 2026, North Dakota employers pay state unemployment tax on the first $46,600 of each employee's wages. Wages above $46,600 per employee are not subject to SUTA.
What is the North Dakota new employer SUTA rate?
New employers in North Dakota pay a SUTA rate of 1% until they have enough history to be experience-rated. On the $46,600 wage base that is up to $466.00 per employee per year.
How is North Dakota SUTA tax calculated?
Multiply each employee's wages, capped at the $46,600 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 North Dakota SUTA rate the same for every employer?
No. After the new-employer period, North Dakota assigns each employer an experience rate based on its history of layoffs and claims, generally ranging from about 0.07% to 9.67% 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
- North Dakota 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.