Oklahoma 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 Oklahoma. This calculator estimates your Oklahoma 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 $25,000 of each employee's wages (the 2026 Oklahoma 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 1.5%. 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 Oklahoma, employers pay SUTA on the first $25,000 of each employee's wages for 2026, and a new employer pays 1.5%. For 5 employees earning $50,000 each at 1.5%, the estimated annual SUTA tax is $1,875.00 ($375.00 per employee).
How Oklahoma SUTA tax works
Oklahoma charges state unemployment tax on each employee's wages up to the taxable wage base of $25,000 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 1.5%.
taxable wages per employee = min(annual wages, $25,000)
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 Oklahoma at 1.5%. Each employee's taxable wages are capped at $25,000, so the tax per employee is $375.00 and the total is $1,875.00.
Oklahoma SUTA figures (2026)
| Figure | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Taxable wage base | $25,000 | U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Unemployment Insurance |
| New employer rate | 1.5% | U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Unemployment Insurance |
| Experience rate range | 0.2% to 5.8% | 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.
Reading Oklahoma's SUTA rates as a new employer
Oklahoma sits in the middle of the pack on its taxable wage base: state unemployment tax applies to the first $25,000 of each employee's annual wages, well above low-base states such as Ohio or Pennsylvania but below the highest-base states. A new Oklahoma employer pays a flat 1.5% rate until the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission has enough history to assign an experience rate, so a full year at the new-employer rate costs at most $25,000 times 1.5%, or $375.00 per employee.
Once you are experience-rated, Oklahoma's schedule runs from 0.2% at the low end to 5.8% at the top, and the state re-sets its rate schedule each year according to the health of the unemployment trust fund. A healthy fund can pull rates, and even the wage base itself, lower, while a depleted one pushes them up, so both the $25,000 base and your assigned rate can move from one year to the next. That makes the annual tax-rate notice the number to trust; enter it above in place of the 1.5% default for an exact figure.
As with every state here, Oklahoma SUTA is an employer-only tax that is never deducted from worker pay, and it is separate from the federal FUTA tax you also owe. For first-year planning, budgeting the 1.5% new-employer rate on the first $25,000 per head is the safe assumption until your rate notice arrives.
Oklahoma SUTA tax: frequently asked questions
What is the Oklahoma unemployment (SUTA) taxable wage base for 2026?
For 2026, Oklahoma employers pay state unemployment tax on the first $25,000 of each employee's wages. Wages above $25,000 per employee are not subject to SUTA.
What is the Oklahoma new employer SUTA rate?
New employers in Oklahoma pay a SUTA rate of 1.5% until they have enough history to be experience-rated. On the $25,000 wage base that is up to $375.00 per employee per year.
How is Oklahoma SUTA tax calculated?
Multiply each employee's wages, capped at the $25,000 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 Oklahoma SUTA rate the same for every employer?
No. After the new-employer period, Oklahoma assigns each employer an experience rate based on its history of layoffs and claims, generally ranging from about 0.2% 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
- Oklahoma 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.