Question

Since the SUTA rates changes are made at the end of each year and there is much discussion about changes to the FUTA rate, the available 2018 rates were used for FUTA and SUTA.

Note: For this textbook edition the rate 0.6% was used for the net FUTA tax rate for employers.

Example 5-8

1. The Iqbal Company of Georgia had a FUTA taxable payroll of $215,600 and a SUTA taxable payroll of $255,700 with a 5.6 percent SUTA tax rate. The company would pay unemployment taxes of:

   FUTA $215,600 × 0.006	=	$1,293.60
   SUTA $255,700 × 0.056	=	14,319.20
   Total taxes		$15,612.80

2. Kresloff Company has only two employees and is located in a state that has set an unemployment tax for the company of 4.8 percent on the first $12,000 of each employee’s earnings. Both employees are paid the same amount each week ($900) and have earned $11,500 up to this week’s pay. The unemployment taxes that the company must pay for this week’s pay would be $48.
   
   FUTA tax (both over $7,000) = $0.00
   SUTA tax ($1,000 × 0.048) = $48.00
   ($500 of each employee’s pay is under the state taxable limit of $12,000)

In September 2019, Manson Paint Corporation began operations in a state that requires new employers of one or more individuals to pay a state unemployment tax of 3.5% of the first $7,000 of wages paid each employee.

An analysis of the company's payroll for the year shows total wages paid of $171,180. The salaries of the president and the vice president of the company were $20,100 and $15,800, respectively, for the four-month period, but there were no other employees who received wages in excess of $7,000 for the four months. Included in the total wages were $880 paid to a director who only attended director meetings during the year, $6,010 paid to the factory superintendent, and $2,030 in employee contributions to a cafeteria plan made on a pretax basis-for both federal and state.

In addition to the total wages of $171,180, a payment of $2,570 was made to Andersen Accounting Company for an audit it performed on the company's books in December 2019. Compute the following; round your answers to the nearest cent.

a. Net FUTA tax	$
b. SUTA tax	$

Answer 1

	FUTA and SUTA taxable wages:
						$	$
	Total wages						171180
	Less:
	Non-taxable salary of president			(20100-7000)		13100
	Non-taxable salary of vice president			(15800-7000)		8800
	Salary to director (Not taxable)					880
	Employee contribution to cafeteria plan (Not a part of wages)					2030	24810
	FUTA and SUTA taxable wages						146370
a.	Net FUTA tax=146370*0.6%=$ 878.22
b.	SUTA tax=146370*3.5%=$ 5122.95
	Note:
	Payment made towards audit is not a part of wages.But it is in addition to wages.
	Hence,there is no requirement to deduct the same from total wages