Wisconsin SUTA: Rates, Schedule D Wage Base, and Filing

The Wisconsin SUTA tax, administered by the Department of Workforce Development under Wis. Stat. § 108.18, is paid on the first $14,000 of each employee’s wages in a calendar year. For 2026 the state is on Schedule D, its lowest rate schedule, so total rates run from 0.00% to 12.00% depending on your experience rating and payroll size.¹ Every covered employer, including those sitting at a 0.00% rate, files a quarterly contribution and wage report.²

What Rate You’ll Actually Pay

Your rate is set each year by your “reserve percentage.” DWD takes your reserve fund balance as of June 30 (reflecting tax payments through July 31 and benefit charges through June 30) and divides it by your fiscal-year taxable payroll ending June 30.³

A higher reserve percentage means you’ve paid in more than has gone out in benefits to your former workers, which earns a lower rate. An overdrawn account pays more. The total rate is the sum of a basic rate, which credits your own reserve fund, and a solvency rate, which goes into a shared balancing account.³

Payroll size also matters. Employers with annual taxable payroll under $500,000 sit in one column of the rate table and employers at $500,000 or more sit in another, with the larger-payroll column generally paying a slightly higher solvency rate at the same reserve percentage.¹

A few points on the 2026 Schedule D table give a sense of the range:¹

Reserve percentage of 15% or more: 0.00% (payroll under $500K) or 0.05% ($500K+).
Reserve percentage of 7% to 7.5%: 1.10% (under $500K) or 1.25% ($500K+).
Reserve percentage of 0% to 3.5%: 4.30% (under $500K) or 4.45% ($500K+).
Overdrawn by 9% or more: 12.00% regardless of payroll size.

According to DWD, more than 95% of Wisconsin employers have a UI tax rate below 4%, and over half pay less than 2%.⁴

New Employer Rates

If you’re newly covered, you’re assigned a fixed rate for your first three calendar years before you move to an experience-based rate.⁵ For 2026:

Construction: 2.50% (payroll under $500K) or 2.70% ($500K+), down from 2.90% and 3.10% in 2025.
All other industries: 3.05% (under $500K) or 3.25% ($500K+), unchanged from 2025.

These apply to full calendar years rather than a fixed number of starter quarters.⁵

The Wage Base and Why Schedule D Is in Effect

Tax is charged only on the first $14,000 of each employee’s wages in a calendar year. Wages above that still have to be reported on your quarterly filings but aren’t taxed.¹

Which of the four statutory schedules (A through D) applies in a given year depends on the balance of the state UI Trust Fund as of June 30 of the prior year. Schedule D, the lowest, takes effect once the fund balance is at or above $1.2 billion.⁶⁴⁷

Filing and Paying Quarterly

Contribution and wage reports are due the last day of the month after each calendar quarter ends:²

Q1 (January–March): April 30
Q2 (April–June): July 31
Q3 (July–September): October 31
Q4 (October–December): January 31

If you have 25 or more employees in a given quarter, electronic filing is required. Once you cross that threshold, the e-file requirement sticks for later quarters.⁸ A 0.00% tax rate does not excuse you from filing.²

New employers register for a Wisconsin UI account number through DWD’s New Employer Registration portal. The Employer Handbook sets out coverage rules for commercial, agricultural, domestic, nonprofit, and governmental employers.⁹

Penalties and Interest

Late wage reports filed within 30 days of the due date carry a $50 penalty. After 30 days late, the penalty is the greater of $100 or $20 per employee.² Employers who are required to e-file but submit paper face a $20-per-employee penalty on the wage report plus a $25 penalty on the contribution report. If your annual taxes due are $10,000 or more and you pay by non-electronic means, the penalty is the greater of $50 or 0.5% of total taxes due.¹⁰

Interest on delinquent tax runs at an annualized rate equal to the greater of 9% or two percentage points above the Wall Street Journal prime rate published on September 30 of the prior year.¹¹

Lowering Next Year’s Rate: Voluntary Contributions

You can make a voluntary payment into your UI account to raise your reserve percentage and drop your rate by one bracket for the following year. DWD mails annual rate notices (Form UCT-100B) in mid-October, and the voluntary contribution must be received by November 30.¹²¹³

The reduction is capped at one bracket, and the payment is not refundable. If what you pay is not enough to move you into the next lower bracket, DWD keeps the money. Employers whose accounts have had overdrafts charged to the balancing account are barred from making voluntary contributions until the fifth calendar year after the most recent such charge.¹²¹³

Buying, Selling, or Restructuring a Business

If a business is sold, merged, or otherwise transferred outside the normal course of operations, both seller and buyer must notify DWD within 30 days on Form UCT-115-E. A new owner can elect to take over the former owner’s UI experience rating, which is worth considering when the predecessor had a favorable rate. For related-party transfers, such as a sole proprietor incorporating or a parent-subsidiary merger, the transfer of the UI account is mandatory.¹⁴

A successor inherits the predecessor’s reserve fund balance (positive or negative), the tax rate and rate factors, reported payroll toward the taxable wage base, and any outstanding tax liability. Future benefit charges based on the predecessor’s employment are also charged to the successor’s account.¹⁴

A Note for Nonprofits, Tribes, and Government Employers

Governmental units, Indian Tribes, and 501(c)(3) nonprofits can opt out of the tax rate structure described above and use reimbursement financing instead. Under that option, the employer repays DWD dollar-for-dollar for benefits charged to its account rather than paying a quarterly tax rate.¹⁵

Nonprofits choosing reimbursement financing must post an assurance of reimbursement (a surety bond, letter of credit, or certificate of deposit) worth at least 4% of their prior-year taxable wages, covering a five-year period. Government employers start as reimbursable and can elect tax financing; nonprofits and Indian Tribes start as tax-financed and can elect to switch.¹⁵

How SUTA Interacts With Federal FUTA

Wisconsin employers also pay federal unemployment tax (FUTA) at 6.0% on the first $7,000 of each employee’s wages. Paying your state UI tax on time normally earns a 5.4% credit, so the effective FUTA rate drops to 0.6%.¹⁶ Wisconsin is not subject to a FUTA credit reduction, so the full 5.4% credit applies.¹⁷

1
Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development. UI Tax Rates for Employers
2
Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development. Employer Handbook – Wage Reporting
3
Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development. UI Financing
4
Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development. Financial Summary of UI Trust Fund
5
Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development. Employer Handbook – Tax Rates
6
Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development. UI Financing Summary
7
Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development. UIAC Meeting Materials
8
Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development. Wage Reporting
9
Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development. Register a Business
10
Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development. Penalty Waiver Request
11
Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development. 2011 Act 236 Plain Language Summary
12
Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development. Voluntary Contribution Worksheet
13
Justia. Wis. Stat. § 108.18
14
Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development. Employer Handbook – Business Transfers
15
Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development. Employer Handbook – Reimbursement Financing
16
Internal Revenue Service. FUTA Credit Reduction
17
Federal Register. Notice of FUTA Credit Reductions Applicable for 2025