Wisconsin Payroll Guide

Wisconsin Payroll Tax Guide (2026)

Wisconsin withholding runs on four brackets from 3.50 to 7.65% with thresholds indexed again for 2026, and unemployment tax stays on Schedule D, where a 500,000 dollar payroll line decides both your new employer rate and the floor of the rate table you land on.[5]

10 min read • Reviewed by Rajanikant Patel CPA • Verified • Sources: DOR, DWD, IRS
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Quick Facts

Wisconsin payroll at a glance

Wisconsin runs two state payroll taxes: graduated income tax withholding taken from employee pay, and unemployment insurance contributions that employers fund entirely on the first $14,000 of each worker’s wages.[5]

State income tax withholding
3.50%–7.65% [4]
UI taxable wage base
$14,000 per employee [5]
New employer UI rate
3.05% [5]
Experienced UI rate range
0.00%–12.00% [5]
Employee-paid state payroll tax
None [5]
Solvency rate
0.00% to 1.30% [5]
Social Security wage base
$184,500 [2]
FUTA net rate
0.6% = $42 per employee [13]
State minimum wage
$7.25 per hour (federal floor) [9]
Local minimum wage ordinances
None [9]
UI registration trigger
A commercial employer is covered after paying $1,500 or more in wages in a… [5]
Exempt salary threshold
$35,568 per year [14]
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What changed for Wisconsin payroll in 2026

Six items moved for Wisconsin employers this year. Anything below is what have changed since the 2025 tables, so a rate card carried over from last year will be wrong in at least one place.

Brackets indexed for 2026 Rates hold at 3.50% to 7.65% Withholding tables unchanged UI stays on Schedule D UI wage base stays at 14,000 Minimum wage still 7.25
Crossing the 500,000 dollar payroll line without noticing: Wisconsin splits its unemployment tax table by taxable payroll. Under $500,000 you are a small employer, your new employer rate is 3.05% outside construction, and the best rate available is 0.00%. At 500,000 or more the new employer rate becomes 3.25% and the floor rises to 0.05% because large employers always carry a solvency component. Payroll growth alone can move you across that line and change your rate without anything else about the business changing.[5]
Estimate

2026 Wisconsin payroll tax calculator

Enter one employee’s annual gross wages to see what the employer owes, what comes out of the paycheque, and the true cost of employment.

Wisconsin · 2026 rates · per employee, per calendar year
Cash wages subject to payroll tax, before any withholding.
Your exact rate is on the Form UCT-100B, the annual unemployment insurance tax rate notice.
FUTA is 6.0% less a 5.4% credit where the state has no outstanding federal loan.

Employer pays

UI, on first $14,000–
Solvency rate, on first $14,000–
FUTA, on first $7,000–
Social Security, 6.2%–
Medicare, 1.45%–
Employer payroll tax–

Withheld from the employee

Social Security, 6.2%–
Medicare, 1.45%–
Additional Medicare, 0.9% over $200,000–
Withheld from employee–
True cost of employment–
Employer tax as % of wages–
Total payroll tax, both sides–

State income tax withholding is not included above: it depends on the employee’s Form WT-4, Employee’s Wisconsin Withholding Exemption Certificate and filing status, so it cannot be estimated from gross pay alone.

Rates & Nexus

Payroll tax rates & the nexus question

Wisconsin runs three state payroll taxes. The table below is the whole state layer for 2026.[5]

The state payroll taxes

TaxPaid by2026 rateWage base
UIEmployer0.00%–12.00%; 3.05% new$14,000
Solvency rateEmployer0.00% to 1.30%$14,000
Income tax withholdingEmployee3.50%–7.65%No limit

Schedule D under Wisconsin Statute 108.18 is in effect. Small employers with taxable payroll under $500,000 run from 0.00 to 12.00% and large employers at 500,000 or more run from 0.05 to 12.00%. In each case the total is a basic rate of 0.00 to 10.70% plus a solvency rate of up to 1.30%. New employer rates are 3.05% outside construction and 2.50% in construction when payroll is under $500,000, rising to 3.25 and 2.70% at 500,000 or more.[5]

Who has to register

A commercial employer is covered after paying $1,500 or more in wages in a quarter, or employing one or more people for some part of a day in 20 or more weeks in a calendar year. Agricultural employers are covered at $20,000 in a quarter or 10 workers in 20 weeks, domestic employers at $1,000 in a quarter, and 501(c)(3) organisations at four or more employees in 20 weeks. Coverage is retroactive to 1 January of the year the condition is first met.[5] Income tax withholding is administered separately by Wisconsin Department of Revenue, so most employers end up with two state account numbers, not one.

Multistate and remote employees

When an employee works in more than one state, the four-part test below decides which state the wages are reported to. The tests run in order: you stop at the first one that gives an answer.

  • 1. Localisation of service→
  • 2. Base of operations→
  • 3. Place of direction & control→
  • 4. Employee’s residence

One remote employee is usually enough. A single person working from home in Wisconsin generally creates an obligation to register and report wages here, even if the business has no office, property or customers in the state.

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Compliance

Registration & return filing

Registration is online and free. The unemployment account and, where one exists, the withholding account are opened separately and carry different numbers.[5]

How to register

  • Cross the wage threshold→
  • Employer online services at unemployment.wisconsin.gov→
  • Receive account number→
  • Form UCT-100B, the annual unemployment insurance tax rate notice→
  • File & deposit online

A commercial employer is covered after paying $1,500 or more in wages in a quarter, or employing one or more people for some part of a day in 20 or more weeks in a calendar year. Agricultural employers are covered at $20,000 in a quarter or 10 workers in 20 weeks, domestic employers at $1,000 in a quarter, and 501(c)(3) organisations at four or more employees in 20 weeks. Coverage is retroactive to 1 January of the year the condition is first met.[5]

Deposit schedule

The department assigns annual, quarterly, monthly or semi-monthly filing from the information on your withholding application rather than from a published dollar table. Quarterly and monthly deposits are due the last day of the month after the period. Semi-monthly deposits are due either at month end or on the 15th of the following month depending on the pay date. Annual filers make no deposits and report everything on the WT-7.[4]

Returns, reports & due dates

FormWhat it isDue
Form WT-6 deposit report for semi-monthly, monthly and quarterly filers, and Form WT-7…Income tax withholding returnsThe department assigns annual, quarterly, monthly or semi-monthly fili
Annual reconciliationYear-end withholding reconciliationJanuary 31
Form 941Federal quarterly returnLast day of the month after quarter end
Form 940Federal unemployment, annualJanuary 31
New hire reportReport of newly hired employeesWithin 20 days of start date

Quarterly unemployment returns are due April 30, July 31, October 31, January 31. A return filed one day late is delinquent, and in most states the penalty attaches to the return, not the payment.[5]

Pricing

Payroll Pricing

Simple, transparent pricing, no setup fees, no year-end surprises. One flat charge per pay run.

Your Biweekly Payroll Statement
Line items the big providers quietly bill for
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Setup fee
one-time onboarding
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$0
Every payroll run
each pay cycle
billed
extra
$0
Off-cycle payroll
corrections & bonuses
billed
extra
$0
Year-end filings
W-2s, 1099s & more
billed
extra
$0
All you actually pay
Per employee, per pay run
$6 /emp
Plus a flat $40 minimum per pay run. That’s the whole bill.
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Wage Base

Subject wages vs. exempt payments

Not every dollar an employee receives is a taxable wage. The split below governs what goes into the unemployment wage base and what is reported at year end.[5]

Subject wages

  • Salaries, hourly pay, overtime and piece rates
  • Commissions, bonuses and incentive pay
  • Most cash tips reported by the employee
  • Vacation, holiday and paid sick leave when taken as wages
  • Severance and payments in lieu of notice
  • The cash value of meals and lodging provided as compensation
  • Employer contributions to a non-qualified deferred compensation plan

Not subject

  • Reimbursements of genuine business expenses under an accountable plan
  • Employer contributions to a qualified retirement plan
  • Employer-paid premiums for accident and health insurance
  • Most third-party sick pay after the sixth calendar month
  • Payments to a genuine independent contractor
  • Workers compensation benefits

The wage base is per employer, per year, not per job. If you hire someone in August who already earned $14,000 elsewhere, your unemployment clock still starts at zero. The one exception is a successor employer taking over an existing payroll, who inherits the wages already paid.

Reference

Glossary of key terms

Taxable wage base
The slice of each employee’s annual pay that unemployment tax is calculated on. In Wisconsin that is $14,000 for 2026. Earnings above it are still wages, they are simply no longer taxed for unemployment.
Experience rating
The method Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development uses to set each employer’s own unemployment rate from its history of claims. Employers with fewer charged claims move down the schedule; those with more move up.
New employer rate
The rate assigned before an employer has enough history to be experience rated. It normally applies for two to three years, then the account moves onto the experience schedule.
Form WT-4, Employee’s Wisconsin Withholding Exemption Certificate
The state withholding certificate. It sets how much income tax comes out of each cheque and is filed with the employer, not with Wisconsin Department of Revenue.
Reserve account
The running balance of contributions an employer has paid in, less the benefits charged against it. The ratio of that balance to taxable payroll is what drives the assigned rate.
Successor employer
A business that acquires another’s payroll may inherit both its experience rate and the wages already paid toward the wage base for the year. Getting this wrong is a common acquisition error.
Localisation of service
The first of four tests deciding which state a multistate employee’s wages are reported to. If substantially all the work is in one state, that state wins and the remaining tests are never reached.
FUTA credit reduction
A reduction in the 5.4% federal unemployment credit applied to states that have carried an outstanding federal loan for two or more consecutive Januaries. It raises the effective FUTA rate and is settled each November.
Supplemental wages
Bonuses, commissions, awards and similar payments made outside the regular payroll cycle. Many states set a separate flat withholding rate for them.
Federal, State & Local

Wisconsin payroll tax, layer by layer

Federal tax applies everywhere and is the larger number. The state layer is what changes when you cross a border.

Layer 1: Federal

TaxRate2026 base
Social Security6.2% each side$184,500
Medicare1.45% each sideNo limit
Additional Medicare0.9% employee onlyOver $200,000
FUTA, standard0.6% net$7,000
Federal income taxPer Form W-4No limit

Wisconsin has no FUTA credit reduction for 2026, so the standard 0.6% net rate applies, $42 per employee. The final list is not published until 10 November 2026.[13]

Layer 2: State

TaxRate2026 base
UI, new employer3.05%$14,000
UI, experienced0.00%–12.00%$14,000
Solvency rate0.00% to 1.30%$14,000
Income tax, standard3.50%–7.65%No limit

Layer 3, county & city: no payroll tax, but a wage floor

No county or city in Wisconsin levies its own payroll or income tax withheld by employers. The local layer shows up as minimum wage, not as tax.[9]

The state minimum wage is $7.25 an hour, which is the federal floor, effective 2009-07-24. The tipped cash wage is $2.33. No local ordinance sets a higher floor. Wisconsin’s rate has matched the federal $7.25 since July 2009 and DWD publishes a single statewide figure with no local rates. The tipped cash wage is $2.33, which is higher than the federal 2.13, so tips must close a 4.92 dollar gap. Workers under 20 may be paid a 5.90 dollar opportunity wage for their first 90 consecutive calendar days.[9]

Overtime exemption is a separate test. A salaried employee is exempt from overtime only above $35,568 a year ($684.00 a week) federal FLSA, and only if the duties test is also met. Paying a salary is not by itself enough.[14]

FAQ

Wisconsin payroll FAQs

Four brackets at 3.50, 4.40, 5.30 and 7.65%. For 2026 a single filer pays 3.50% to $15,110, 4.40% to 51,950, 5.30% to 332,720 and 7.65% above that. Joint filers use 20,150, 69,260 and 443,630 as the breakpoints. The rates themselves did not change from 2025, only the indexed thresholds.

The Department of Revenue assigns you annual, quarterly, monthly or semi-monthly filing based on what you reported when you registered, rather than by a published dollar threshold. Quarterly and monthly deposits on Form WT-6 are due the last day of the month after the period. Annual filers skip the WT-6 and report everything on Form WT-7, which is due 31 January.

It depends on your industry and your payroll size. With taxable payroll under $500,000 a new employer pays 3.05%, or 2.50% in construction. At $500,000 or more the rates are 3.25% and 2.70%. All of them apply to the first $14,000 of each employee’s wages, and newly subject employers keep a fixed rate for their first three calendar years.

A commercial employer is covered after paying $1,500 or more in wages in a quarter, or employing at least one person for part of a day in 20 or more weeks in a calendar year. Agricultural employers are covered at $20,000 in a quarter or 10 workers in 20 weeks, domestic employers at $1,000 in a quarter, and 501(c)(3) organisations at four employees in 20 weeks. Coverage is retroactive to 1 January of that year.

No, and this catches people out. Wisconsin’s tipped cash wage is $2.33 an hour rather than the federal 2.13, so the maximum tip credit is $4.92. Tips plus the cash wage still have to average at least $7.25 an hour across the pay period, and you make up any shortfall.

Yes, within limits. A worker under 20 may be paid an opportunity wage of $5.90 an hour for the first 90 consecutive calendar days of employment. After 90 days, or when the worker turns 20, whichever comes first, the full 7.25 dollar minimum applies. The clock runs on calendar days, not days worked.

$14,000 per employee per calendar year. Once an employee reaches that in wages from you, no further unemployment tax is due on that employee for the rest of the year. The count restarts on 1 January and does not carry over from a previous employer.

$7.25 an hour, which matches the federal floor. No local ordinance sets a higher rate. The tipped cash wage is $2.33.

April 30, July 31, October 31, January 31. A return is delinquent the day after the deadline even if the tax itself was paid on time, so file the return whether or not you can pay.

Verification

Sources & methodology

  1. Wisconsin Department of Revenue – Individual Income Tax Rates
  2. Wisconsin Department of Revenue – 2026 Form 1-ES Instructions with 2026 Tax Rate Schedules
  3. Wisconsin Department of Revenue – Publication W-166, Wisconsin Withholding Tax Guide
  4. Wisconsin Department of Revenue – Withholding Tax Common Questions
  5. Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development – Unemployment Insurance Tax Rates
  6. Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development – UI Employer Handbook, Account Reporting
  7. Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development – UI Employer Handbook, Employer Coverage
  8. Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development – Unemployment Insurance Tax for Employers
  9. Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development, Equal Rights Division – Wisconsin Minimum Wage Rates
  10. U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division – Minimum Wages for Tipped Employees
  11. U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division – State Minimum Wage Laws
  12. U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration – Significant Provisions of State Unemployment Insurance Laws, January 2026
  13. U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration – FUTA Credit Reductions
  14. U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division – Salary Levels for the Executive, Administrative and Professional Exemptions
Methodology: every rate, threshold and due date on this page was taken from the administering agency’s own published material for the 2026 tax year, checked on Oct 1, 2026. Where a federal figure applies it comes from the IRS, SSA or US Department of Labor. 5 data points on this page could not be confirmed against a primary source and are either omitted or marked as not published, rather than estimated. Rates change, and some change mid-year, so confirm against your own rate notice before running a payroll.
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