The Georgia SUI rate ranges from 0.04% to 8.10% for experience-rated employers and sits at a flat 2.64% for new employers through December 31, 2026. The rate applies to the first $9,500 of each employee’s wages per calendar year. Experience-rated employers also pay a 0.06% administrative assessment on top of their base rate.
The New Employer Rate
A business without enough Georgia payroll history for an individualized calculation pays a flat new employer rate. That rate is 2.64% through December 31, 2026, set by SB 160 (2024). It reverts to 2.7% on January 1, 2027.1Georgia General Assembly. SB 160 New employers do not pay the 0.06% administrative assessment that applies to experience-rated employers.2Georgia Department of Labor. Employer Tax Rates Released
You stay at the new employer rate until the Georgia Department of Labor (GDOL) has enough of your claims and payroll history to compute an experience rate, at which point your annual rate notice will reflect the switch.
How the Experience Rate Is Calculated
Once you have enough history, the GDOL builds an individualized rate from your reserve ratio. The logic is simple: former employees drawing benefits push your rate up, and a clean claims record pushes it down.
The math has two steps. First, the GDOL takes every dollar of unemployment tax you have paid since becoming liable and subtracts every dollar of benefits charged against your account. That difference is your tax reserve. Second, it divides your tax reserve by your three-year average annual payroll to produce a reserve ratio percentage.3Georgia Department of Labor. Employer Handbook That percentage maps to a rate on the state’s rate table.
Experience-rated employers currently fall somewhere between 0.04% and 8.10%. Where you land depends entirely on how your reserve ratio compares to the rate schedule for that year.
The 0.06% Administrative Assessment
Experience-rated employers pay an additional 0.06% administrative assessment on top of the base SUI rate. It appears as a separate line on the quarterly return. New employers do not pay it, and neither do reimbursing employers that pay the trust fund back dollar-for-dollar rather than paying rated contributions.2Georgia Department of Labor. Employer Tax Rates Released
Why Your Rate Can Move Without a Claims Change
Georgia adjusts rates each year based on economic conditions and the balance of the state’s Unemployment Trust Fund. If the fund drops below a set threshold, the GDOL can layer additional assessments across all employers to rebuild it. When the fund is healthy, rates can tick down. Your rate can therefore shift from one year to the next even if nothing about your own claims history has changed.
Where the Rate Applies: The $9,500 Wage Base
Your rate is charged only against the first $9,500 an employee earns in a calendar year. Once a worker crosses that threshold, no further SUI tax is owed on their additional wages for the year. The wage base is set by statute and has stayed at $9,500 since 2013.4Georgia Department of Labor. Employers FAQs – Unemployment Insurance You still report every dollar of gross wages each quarter, because that data is what the state uses to determine benefit eligibility for your employees, but tax is calculated only on the wages up to the cap.
Annual Rate Notices
Each December, the GDOL posts your annual SUI tax rate notice to the Employer Portal. The new rate takes effect January 1. Check it as soon as it appears. Errors are correctable, but only within a limited window, and the earlier you catch a problem the easier it is to fix.
Lowering Your Rate With a Voluntary Contribution
Along with the rate notice, the GDOL flags employers who could reduce their assigned rate by making a voluntary payment into the Unemployment Trust Fund. Eligible employers receive a letter by December 31 showing the payment needed and the resulting rate. Payment must be made by certified check or money order within 30 days of the notice date.3Georgia Department of Labor. Employer Handbook
Not everyone qualifies. You are ineligible if you already have the lowest possible rate, if you have unfiled quarterly reports, or if you lack enough experience history for a computed rate. For employers who do qualify, the calculation is usually worth running. A lump sum can lower the rate enough to save more than the contribution costs over the coming year.
Successor Employer Rate Rules
When you acquire another Georgia business, the SUI history transfers to you only when the transfer helps you. If the predecessor’s rate is below the 2.64% new employer rate, the GDOL moves the experience history to your account and you keep that lower rate for the remainder of the calendar year. Future rates are then computed from the combined history of both businesses.3Georgia Department of Labor. Employer Handbook
If the predecessor’s rate is higher than 2.64%, no transfer happens and you simply get the new employer rate. A buyer is not stuck with a bad claims history they had no hand in creating.
Two filings accompany any acquisition. The seller must notify the GDOL’s Adjudication Section of the sale or merger in writing on company letterhead, and must file any outstanding quarterly reports and pay all taxes due within ten days of the sale.3Georgia Department of Labor. Employer Handbook Verify the seller has done both before closing, because unresolved liabilities follow the account.
Penalties That Affect Your Rate
Late Filing and Payment
Missing a quarterly filing deadline triggers a penalty of $20 or 0.05% of total wages for the quarter, whichever is greater, for each month or partial month the report is delinquent.5Justia Law. Georgia Code 34-8-165 – Tax and Wage Reports Unpaid taxes accrue interest at 1.5% per month from the due date. The GDOL may also impose a 20% collection fee on any assessed deficiency.4Georgia Department of Labor. Employers FAQs – Unemployment Insurance Repeated late filings can also damage your experience rating and push your rate higher in future years.
SUTA Dumping
Restructuring a business, transferring employees to shell entities, or shifting payroll to manufacture a lower SUI rate is treated as fraud under Georgia and federal law. An employer caught doing this is assigned the highest rate in the system for the year of the violation and for the three years that follow. If the employer is already at or near the highest rate, the GDOL instead imposes an additional penalty rate of 2% of taxable wages.3Georgia Department of Labor. Employer Handbook Accountants, attorneys, or consultants who advise an employer to engage in SUTA dumping face a civil penalty of up to $5,000 per violation.6Justia Law. Georgia Code 34-8-153 – Liability of Succeeding Employer
Appealing a Rate Determination
If the rate on your notice looks wrong, you can appeal. The appeal must be in writing and must reach the GDOL within 15 days of the date on the determination, not the date you received it. You can file online, by email, by fax, or by hand delivery, and the appeal has to include a detailed explanation of what you are contesting.7Georgia Department of Labor. File an Appeal
Initial appeals go to the UI Appeals Tribunal, where an administrative hearing officer reviews the evidence. You can submit documents, call witnesses, and challenge the state’s findings. A tribunal loss can be taken to the Georgia Board of Review within 15 calendar days of the release date of the tribunal’s decision. If the 15th day falls on a weekend or state holiday, the deadline moves to the next business day.8Georgia Department of Labor. UI Appeals Handbook
A Board of Review decision can be taken to superior court in the county where the employee was last employed. That petition is due within 15 days after the Board of Review’s decision becomes final.9Justia Law. Georgia Code 34-8-223 – Procedure for Judicial Review At every stage, the records that support your position are what carry the appeal.