Employer Payroll Taxes

Employer payroll taxes are the taxes a business pays on its employees' wages, on top of the wages themselves. They are the employer's 6.2% Social Security and 1.45% Medicare match, federal unemployment tax and state unemployment tax, plus any state programs that charge employers.

Nothing comes out of the employee's check for these. The match stops at the Social Security wage base like the employee share, and employers do not match the Additional Medicare Tax. FUTA is at most 0.6% of the first $7,000 in most states, and SUTA depends on the state and on your experience rating.

Together they often add around 8% to 10% to a lower-paid worker's wages and less as a percentage at higher salaries, since FUTA and SUTA stop early in the year. Employers report them on Form 941 and Form 940. See the total for any state in the payroll calculator or the payroll calculator by state.