The Delaware training tax is a small payroll assessment that most employers pay along with their state unemployment insurance. For 2026, the rate is 0.11% on the first $14,500 of each employee’s wages, capping out at $15.95 per worker for the year.1Delaware Code Online. Delaware Code Title 19 – Counseling, Training and Placement Activities It funds state workforce programs, and it’s reported on the same quarterly form you already use for unemployment contributions.
Who Owes It
If your business pays Delaware unemployment insurance at a tax rate, you owe the training tax too. The statute treats it as a “special assessment” added to everything else due under Title 19.1Delaware Code Online. Delaware Code Title 19 – Counseling, Training and Placement Activities
Two groups don’t pay. Nonprofits that have elected to reimburse the state dollar-for-dollar for actual benefits paid to former employees are out. So are government agencies and political subdivisions.2Delaware Code Online. Delaware Code Title 19 Chapter 33 – Unemployment Compensation Definitions The dividing line is how you handle unemployment claims: rated (contributory) employers owe the training tax; reimbursing employers don’t.
Only employee wages count. Independent contractors aren’t covered wages for unemployment insurance, so they’re outside the training tax as well. Classify a worker wrong, though, and you can be assessed back training tax on top of the much larger unemployment liability.
The 2026 Rate and How to Calculate It
The 2026 rate is 0.11% applied to each employee’s first $14,500 in wages. The taxable wage base is set by statute: $12,500 for 2025, $14,500 for 2026, and $16,500 for 2027 and beyond, under House Bill 433 enacted in 2024.3State of Delaware. Delaware Division of Unemployment Insurance Announces New Tax Schedules for 2025 The training tax rate moves inversely with that base, so the per-employee ceiling stays close to $16.
The math is simple. Multiply each employee’s year-to-date wages by 0.0011 until they hit $14,500, then stop. A worker who earns $14,500 or more generates the full $15.95 for the year. A seasonal hire earning $8,000 generates $8.80. Your payroll system is already tracking the same running wage total for unemployment, so the training tax rides along with it.
Filing and Payment
The training tax is reported and paid as part of your quarterly unemployment insurance filing, not separately. You use the UC-8 Quarterly Tax Report, which captures gross wages, excess wages over the taxable base, and the resulting tax amounts, with the UC-8A schedule listing individual employee wages.4Delaware Department of Labor. State of Delaware Unemployment Insurance Quarterly Tax Report
Filing goes through Delaware’s Online Employer Services portal at oes.delawareworks.com, which handles both wage reporting and electronic payment.5Delaware Department of Labor. Online Employer Services Quarterly reports are due by the end of the month after each calendar quarter: April 30, July 31, October 31, and January 31. The state occasionally pushes a deadline when rate notices run late, as happened for the first quarter of 2026.6Delaware Department of Labor. Employer Services Save the digital confirmation each time you submit.
What Happens If You File or Pay Late
Because the training tax rides on the unemployment return, missing a quarterly filing creates the same problem for both. Delaware assigns a delinquency rate to employers who fail to file. Under H.B. 433 that rate is 6.3% of taxable wages, far above any normal combined rate.3State of Delaware. Delaware Division of Unemployment Insurance Announces New Tax Schedules for 2025
The Department may waive the delinquency rate for good cause, but that decision is at its sole discretion. If the state thinks collection is at risk, it can require reports and payments for periods shorter than a quarter and ahead of the normal due date. Any payment you make while delinquent is applied to the oldest debt first: penalties, then interest, then the assessment itself.7Delaware Code Online. Delaware Code Title 19 Chapter 33 – Unemployment Compensation Subchapter III
What the Tax Funds
Training tax revenue supports Delaware’s Blue Collar Jobs Program and related workforce development: retraining for displaced workers, services for economically disadvantaged residents, and school-to-work transition for young people. The Division of Unemployment Insurance collects the tax; the Division of Employment and Training uses most of the proceeds to run those programs.8Delaware Department of Labor. About the Division of Employment and Training
Worth knowing if you employ workers in trades: the Division of Employment and Training administers grants that can partially offset the cost of upskilling your own employees. Employers paying into the fund are often eligible to apply.
Records to Keep
Delaware can assess unpaid unemployment and training taxes within four years after a quarterly report was filed, so your payroll records need to last at least that long.7Delaware Code Online. Delaware Code Title 19 Chapter 33 – Unemployment Compensation Subchapter III The IRS separately requires employers to retain employment tax records for at least four years after filing the fourth-quarter return.9Internal Revenue Service. Employment Tax Recordkeeping
Keep quarterly wage detail for each employee, copies of filed UC-8 and UC-8A forms, payment confirmations from the online portal, and any correspondence from the Division of Unemployment Insurance. The four-year assessment window does not apply to fraudulent or intentionally evasive returns, which can be assessed with no time limit.7Delaware Code Online. Delaware Code Title 19 Chapter 33 – Unemployment Compensation Subchapter III