If you’re an employer working on your state unemployment tax returns, you’ll be interested to know that many states have made changes for the 2016 tax year.
In many states, the tax liability on unemployment tax returns has changed due to new taxable wage bases and tax rates, and reduction or elimination of some tax surcharges.
The table below provides a summary of some 2016 state unemployment insurance changes.
| State | Change |
| Alabama | The shared cost assessment is not in effect in 2016 (it was 0.3% in 2015). |
| Alaska | Taxable wage base has increased from $38,700 to $39,700. |
| Arizona | Employers no longer have to pay the job training tax, which was computed at 1% of taxable wages. |
| Colorado | Taxable wage base has increased from $11,800 to $12,200. |
| Hawaii | Taxable wage base has increased from $40,900 to $42,200. Also, experienced employers pay unemployment taxes under lower rate Schedule C in 2016. Unemployment tax rates range from 0% to 5.56%. Rate schedule D was in effect in 2015 (rates ranged from 0.2% to 5.8%). |
| Idaho | Taxable wage base has increased from $36,000 to $37,200. |
| Iowa | Taxable wage base has increased from $27,300 to $28,300. |
| Kansas | Taxable wage base has increased from $12,000 to $14,000. |
| Kentucky | Taxable wage base has increased from $9,900 to $10,200. |
| Maryland | Experienced employers pay unemployment taxes under lower rate Table A in 2016. Unemployment tax rates range from 0.3% to 7.5%. Table B was in effect in 2015 (rates ranged from 0.6% to 9.0%). |
| Michigan | Taxable wage base decreased for most non-delinquent, contributing employers from $9,500 to $9,000, beginning in the third quarter of 2015. |
| Mississippi | Recent legislation lowered the basic minimum unemployment tax rate for experienced employers from 0.2% to 0.0%. |
| Minnesota | Taxable wage base has increased from $30,000 to $31,000. |
| Montana | Taxable wage base has increased from $29,500 to $30,500. |
| Nevada | Taxable wage base has increased from $27,800 to $28,200. |
| New Jersey | Taxable wage base has increased from $32,000 to $32,600. |
| New Mexico | Taxable wage base has increased from $23,400 to $24,100. Also, New Mexico is revising the way it computes unemployment tax rates beginning in the third quarter of 2016. |
| New York | Taxable wage base has increased from $10,500 to $10,700. |
| North Carolina | Taxable wage base has increased from $21,700 to $22,300. Also, employers no longer have to pay a 20% surcharge on their unemployment tax liability. |
| North Dakota | Taxable wage base has increased from $35,600 to $37,200. |
| Oklahoma | Taxable wage base has increased from $17,000 to $17,500. |
| Oregon | Taxable wage base has increased from $35,700 to $36,900. |
| Pennsylvania | Taxable wage base has increased from $9,000 to $9,500. |
| Rhode Island | Taxable wage base has increased from $21,200 to $22,000 (from $22,700 to $23,500 for employers in the highest unemployment tax rate bracket). |
| Tennessee | Taxable wage base has decreased from $9,000 to $8,000 |
| Utah | Taxable wage base has increased from $31,300 to $32,200. |
| Vermont | Taxable wage base has increased from $16,400 to $16,800. |
| Virginia | The pool cost charge has been reduced from 0.14% to 0.07%. Employers don’t have to pay the fund builder tax in 2016. |
| Virgin Islands | Taxable wage base has increased from $22,900 to $23,000. |
| Washington | Taxable wage base has increased from $42,100 to $44,000. |
| Wyoming | Taxable wage base has increased from $24,700 to $25,500 |
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