2026 Payroll Deadline Calendar
Every deposit and filing date for 941, 940, W-2, and FUTA in one checklist.
Read the calendar →Blog · Federal update · November 2026
2026 Payroll Tax Changes: What Employers Need to Know
The rates rarely move, but the thresholds do. Here are the 2026 federal payroll figures to update before your next payroll run — and the state items most employers forget.
The headline numbers for 2026
| Item | 2026 figure | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Social Security wage base | $176,100 | Stop withholding at 6.2% once an employee's year-to-date wages pass this cap |
| Social Security rate | 6.2% employer + 6.2% employee | Unchanged by statute — just confirm your software matches |
| Medicare rate | 1.45% each side, no wage cap | Applies to all wages; plus 0.9% employee withholding over $200,000 ($250,000 joint) |
| FUTA | 6.0% on first $7,000 (0.6% with full state credit) | Pay state unemployment taxes on time to keep the 5.4% credit |
Three things that trip employers up every January
1. The wage base resets — your December settings don't carry over
High earners who stopped paying Social Security tax late in the year start paying again on January 1. If your software doesn't reset year-to-date accumulators, you'll under-withhold. Run a first-payroll audit against the payroll calculator to confirm the math.
2. State wage bases move independently
State unemployment (SUI) wage bases range from $7,000 to over $60,000 and change on each state's own schedule. Check your state's page in the state guides and download the 2026 SUI wage base dataset (CSV).
3. Deposit schedules are re-determined by lookback
Whether you deposit monthly or semi-weekly depends on your four-quarter lookback liability — not on what you did last year by habit. Miss the schedule and Failure to Deposit penalties run 2% to 15%. See the full 2026 payroll deadline calendar.
Verify before you file: thresholds and forms change. Confirm
figures in IRS employment tax guidance
and our latest updates page, or ask a licensed CPA.
Keep reading
The True Cost of an Employee
Why a $60,000 salary costs far more than $60,000 — the full employer math.
See the math →Employer Payroll Tax Guide
The complete reference: FICA, FUTA, withholding, and filing forms.
Read the guide →