Wage base limits

A taxable wage base limit is the amount of wages that are subject to taxes in a given time period. Once an employee has hit the wage base limit for a tax, the employee and/or employer are no longer responsible for paying that specific tax in the current year. These common payroll taxes have annual wage base limits per employee:

• Social Security: $137,700 in 2020
• Federal unemployment tax act (FUTA): $7,000 for 2020
• State unemployment insurance (SUI): Varies depending on the state

We'll stop applying a tax for an employee in payroll once the year-to-date wages hit the wage base limit. At the start of the next year, we'll reset the year-to-date amount so that the tax is applied again until the annual wage base limit is met.