ABCO Payroll Services®

By Roger Reynolds

The wage base which Florida unemployment tax is calculated is going from $7,000 annually per employee to $8,500 in 2010.

The minimum tax rate is going from .0012 in 2009 to .0118 in 2010. In 2009 the minimum tax for employees reaching $7,000 was $8.40. In 2010 the minimum tax rate per employee reaching $8,500 will be $100.30, an increase of almost 12 times the 2009 rate.

The maximum unemployment tax rate remains at .0540, however because of the increased wage base the maximum tax will go from $378 dollars in 2009 to $459 in 2010 per employee reaching the new wage base.

Because of the high unemployment rate in Florida, the state’s Unemployment Compensation Trust Fund dropped from more than $1.3 billion last year to zero in August. Florida then began borrowing $300 million a month from the federal government to pay benefits.