Federal Unemployment Tax

The Federal Unemployment Tax (commonly called FUTA) is a tax levied to collect funding for unemployment insurance and programs that help the unemployed get back into the workforce.

FUTA is levied solely on employers; there is no employee matching share (like with Social Security or Medicare).

As of 2018 FUTA is assessed at 6.0% on the first $7,000 of wages for each employee; however, FUTA can be reduced by up to 5.4% (depending on the unemployment tax rate charged by a particular state), resulting in a potential minimum rate of 0.6%.