For tax year 2015, the FUTA Tax Rate is 6%.  The taxable wage base is $7,000.  Once the worker’s earnings reach $7,000 during a given year, the employer no longer pays any Federal unemployment tax for that year with respect to that worker.

Calculation Example:

Employee#1 Salary: $50,000

Since employee #1 is over the taxable wage base of $7,000, only $7,000 is used to calculate the FUTA Tax.  $7,000 * 0.6% = $42 FUTA Tax.

Employee#2 Salary: $5,000

Since employee #2 didn’t exceed the taxable wage base of $7,000, we calculate employee #2 total wage of $5,000 * 0.6% = $30 FUTA Tax.