Computing and Depositing FUTA

For 2004 and 2005, the FUTA tax rate is 6.2%. The tax applies to the first $7,000 that you pay to each employee as wages during the year. The $7,000 is the federal wage base. Your state wage base may be different. Generally, you can take a credit against your FUTA tax for amounts that you paid into state unemployment funds. This credit cannot be more than 5.4% of taxable wages. If you are entitled to the maximum 5.4% credit, the FUTA tax rate after the state SUTA credit is 0.8%.

Successor Employer

If you acquired a business from an employer who was liable for FUTA tax, you may be able to count the wages that employer paid to the employees who continue to work for you when you figure the $7,000 FUTA wage base. See the Instructions for Form 940 at the IRS website.

Depositing FUTA tax

For deposit purposes, figure FUTA tax quarterly. Determine your FUTA tax liability by multiplying the amount of wages paid during the quarter by .008 (0.8%). Stop depositing FUTA tax on an employee's wages when he or she reaches $7,000 in wages for the calendar year. If any part of the wages subject to FUTA is exempt from state unemployment tax, you may have to deposit more than the tax using the 0.8% rate. For example, in certain states, wages paid to corporate officers, certain payments of sick pay by unions, and certain fringe benefits, are exempt from state unemployment tax.

If your FUTA tax liability for a quarter after 2004 is $500 or less, you do not have to deposit the tax. Instead, you may carry it forward and add it to the liability figured in the next quarter to see if you must make a deposit. If your FUTA tax liability for any calendar quarter in 2005 is over $500 (including any FUTA tax carried forward from an earlier quarter), you must deposit the tax by electronic funds transfer (EFTPS) or in an authorized financial institution using Form 8109, Federal Tax Deposit Coupon.

You are not required to deposit FUTA taxes for household employees unless you report their wages on Form 941 or Form 943. See IRS Publication 926, Household Employer's Tax Guide, for more information.