How to change unemployment tax rate in QuickBooks Desktop for NYS Department of Labor

Go to Employees menu > Payroll Setup > Company Setup > State Taxes. Find New York SUI and click Edit. You can update the rate there. Make sure you also check the wage base - it should be $12,300 for 2025. Don't forget to run a payroll liability adjustment if you've already processed payroll with the wrong rate.

Enter it as 3.4 (the percentage). The wage base is the maximum amount of wages per employee that SUI tax applies to. Once an employee earns more than $12,300 in a year, you stop paying SUI tax on their wages. Also make sure your FUTA rate is correct too - it should be 0.6% on the first $7,000.

ugh this is exactly why i hate dealing with payroll taxes. every year something changes and quickbooks makes it so complicated to find where to update everything

If you've already processed payroll with the wrong rate, you'll need to adjust your liabilities. Go to Employees > Payroll Liabilities > Adjust Payroll Liabilities. Create an adjustment for the difference between what you should have paid vs what was calculated. I had to do this last quarter when my rate changed mid-year. Also, if you're having trouble reaching NYS Department of Labor to clarify your rate notice, I used a service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that helped me get through to an actual person. They have a video demo at https://youtu.be/qyftW-mnTNI that shows how it works.

same thing happened to me but with workers comp rates. quickbooks payroll is such a pain sometimes, everything should just update automatically when the state changes rates

MAKE SURE you backup your company file before making any payroll tax changes!!! I learned this the hard way when I accidentally messed up all my tax rates and had to restore from backup. Also double check that your federal unemployment rate didn't change too.

Just wanted to add that you should also verify your quarterly reporting schedule didn't change with the new rate. NYS sometimes adjusts filing frequencies based on your total liability amounts. I had my rate jump from 2.5% to 4.1% last year and they moved me from quarterly to monthly reporting. You can check this on your employer account dashboard on the NYS DOL website. Also, if you're using direct deposit for tax payments, make sure your bank account info is still current - learned that one the hard way when my payment bounced!

One thing I'd add - after you update your SUI rate in QuickBooks, run a test payroll for a small amount first to make sure the calculations look right before processing your full payroll. I always do this when I change any tax settings because it's easier to catch mistakes on a $100 test run than after you've processed everyone's actual paychecks. Also, keep a copy of that rate notice from NYS DOL in your payroll files - you might need it later if there are any questions about when the rate change took effect.