Available to Basic Payroll, Full Service Payroll
Most business owners get a notice each year with their updated state unemployment (SUTA) tax rate. This rate is based on your company’s unemployment claims history—also known as your “experience rating.” For example, if you lay off several employees and they file for unemployment benefits, your rate could increase as a result.
For Full Service Payroll users, Patriot calculates, collects, deposits, and files all payroll taxes, including unemployment taxes, on your behalf. Basic Payroll users, however, are responsible for making all tax deposits and filings directly with the appropriate state agencies.
Update Your State Assigned SUTA Rate Each Year
While Patriot Software automatically updates all standard tax rates (e.g., federal income tax, federal unemployment, state/local, etc.), the payroll software does not automatically update SUTA rates, since they are based on your company’s experience rating.
When you receive a SUTA rate change notice from your state unemployment tax agency, you will need to update this custom tax rate in the payroll software to calculate your SUTA tax liabilities correctly.
If you have any questions about what your rate is, please contact your state’s Department of Labor.
Understanding SUTA Effective Dates
The SUTA (State Unemployment Tax Act) effective date is the date set by your state agency indicating when your assigned unemployment tax rate begins to apply to your business. This date is crucial for ensuring accurate payroll tax calculations and compliance with state regulations.
To ensure that prior quarters use the correct SUTA rate, update the effective date of the new rate to the start of the quarter when it began. For example, if the new rate applies from Q3, set the effective date to the beginning of Q3. This ensures that earlier quarters (e.g., Q1 and Q2) retain the old rate, while Q3 onward uses the updated rate.
How Enter Your SUTA Rate
Go to Settings > Payroll Settings > State Unemployment Rates
Click Edit for the SUTA rate you want to change (if you have more than one state, or your state has more than one type of SUTA rate).
Choose an Effective Date from the dropdown. Refer to the dates on the SUTA notice you received, and select the correct effective date. If aligning the effective date to when an employee began working at a specific location, it is generally tied to the start of the quarter in which they began working. However, the effective date on the state’s rate notice takes precedence. For example, if your liability begins at the start of the year, you might select 1/1/2026 as the effective date.
Enter the new SUTA rate in the Tax Rate field.
Click Save.
A history of previously entered SUTA rates will be displayed, including the rate you just entered.
Full Service Payroll: if you have Full Service Payroll, and if your SUTA rate change causes a SUTA tax adjustment for past payrolls, you will see an additional confirmation screen to preview the pending tax debit/credit to your bank account.
Click Accept.
Please verify the rate once you click save to ensure you have entered it correctly. Entering a rate too low will result in fines and penalties from your state.
Note: If you do not yet know your official SUTA rate, you can enter a reasonable placeholder rate and update it later once you receive the official rate from your state agency.
SUTA Payment Deadlines
With Full Service Payroll, Patriot will collect SUTA liabilities each payroll and deposit them based on the due date along with the SUTA tax filings.
Basic Payroll customers will need to remit their quarterly SUTA tax payment and filings each quarter.
SUTA (State Unemployment Tax Act) payments are primarily due quarterly in all states, payable by the last day of the month following the end of the quarter.
Standard quarterly due dates are:
Q1 (Jan–Mar): April 30
Q2 (Apr–Jun): July 31
Q3 (Jul–Sep): October 31
Q4 (Oct–Dec): January 31 of the following year
Contact your state to ensure their deadlines follow the most common due dates.