Texas employers will see a slight decrease in unemployment insurance (UI) taxes this year thanks to across-the-board rate cuts for 2013.
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Get Your Report Now!The average UI tax rate for 2013 is 1.82%, down from 1.96% in 2012, while the average rate for experience-rated employers has fallen to 1.71% from 1.87%. The standard minimum UI rate has also decreased to 0.54% from 0.61%.
According to the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC), 250,184 , or 63.5%, of experience-rated employers pay the minimum tax rate. Based on the Texas taxable wage base of $9,000, UI taxes for those employers will be $48.60 per employee in 2013 compared with $54.90 per employee in 2012.
The maximum UI tax rate, which is paid by 6.8% of Texas employers, will be 7.35% in 2013, down from 7.58% in 2012. The TWC determines an employer’s experience rating by the amount of the employer’s taxable wages and the amount of UI benefits that have been paid to former employees and charged to the employer’s account for the last 3 years.
In setting tax rates for 2013, the TWC said that it “sought to minimize the effects of any increases and exercise the authority given to it by state law to hold the tax rates to the lowest and most predictable rates possible.” The TWC suspended the deficit tax in 2012 to keep UI taxes low.
Texas ranked 14th among states for its UI tax climate in the 2013 State Business Tax Climate Index, a report published by the nonprofit Tax Foundation.