Vermont · 2026 planning data
Vermont SUTA rate and employer cost for 2026
Vermont's sourced 2026 unemployment-insurance model uses a taxable wage base of $15,400 per employee and a 1.00% standard new-employer rate. The assigned rate can differ after an acquisition, experience rating, industry classification, or state assessment.
How the Vermont SUTA line is estimated
State unemployment tax applies only up to the annual UI wage base for each employee. For an employee earning at least $15,400, the planning calculation is:
min(UI-taxable wages, $15,400) × 1.00% = up to $154The standard sourced new-employer rate in the EmployerCost model is 1.00%. A transferred experience account, special industry rule, assessment, or employer notice can produce a different total.
What this Vermont estimate does not include
Vermont employers owe 2 mandatory costs that this calculator does not add to the total, because they depend on facts the calculator never asks for — how many people the employer has, which city the work happens in, how much payroll it runs in a quarter. Adding them to every employer would overcharge the ones the rule does not reach, so they are named here instead of buried in a number.
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Child Care Contribution — about $264 a year for a $60,000 employee
0.44% of all wages, no cap. The employer may pass at most a quarter of it to the employee, leaving an irreducible 0.33% employer floor.
Applies when: Every employer, no threshold.
Source: Vermont Department of Taxes: Child Care Contribution
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Health Care Fund Contribution Assessment — about $635 a year for a $60,000 employee
A flat quarterly assessment per full-time equivalent, not a percentage of wages
Applies when: Only full-time equivalents the employer does NOT cover with health insurance, and only from the fifth such employee onward. An employer covering its workforce owes nothing.
What changes the real employer cost
- Vermont's 2026 taxable wage base is $15,400; the standard new-employer rate is 1.00%.
- Schedule I runs from 0.40% to 5.40% for the rate year ending June 30, 2026. Certain out-of-state construction employers use industry averages.
- Employer Social Security, Medicare, and FUTA remain separate federal cost lines.
- Workers compensation in Vermont runs 147% of the national median — 47% above it, 5th of 51 jurisdictions at $1.60 per $100 of payroll (Oregon DCBS 2024 premium rate ranking). That is a relativity between states, not your rate: class code, carrier, payroll exposure and experience modifier decide what you actually pay.
- Health benefits, retirement contributions, payroll software, and HR administration depend on the employer's choices.
Use the calculator's custom SUTA field whenever an official notice supplies a different rate. Read the SUTA rate guide and employer payroll tax guide before relying on a planning result.
Vermont employer cost questions
What is the Vermont SUTA wage base for 2026?
The sourced taxable wage base used by EmployerCost is $15,400 per employee. Wages above that cap are not included in this SUTA line, but can still affect Social Security, Medicare, benefits, workers compensation, and other costs.
What rate should a new Vermont employer use?
The standard sourced new-employer rate in the EmployerCost model is 1.00%. A transferred experience account, special industry rule, assessment, or employer notice can produce a different total.
Is SUTA the full cost of a Vermont employee?
No. Start with salary, then add employer FICA, FUTA, SUTA, workers compensation, benefits, and payroll administration. The Vermont calculator keeps uncertain items as ranges.
Official sources
- Vermont DOL 2026 UI wage base and Schedule I rates
- U.S. Department of Labor — Significant Provisions of State UI Laws, effective January 2026
Verified against official sources July 30, 2026.
General planning information only. Not payroll, tax, legal, insurance, or HR compliance advice.