Your State Payroll Account, Current Every Quarter
Florida's version of state unemployment tax comes due every quarter. Each Form RT-6 is prepared from the same payroll records as your federal filings and filed by its deadline.
Florida Reemployment Tax Filing For Homestead, FL Employers
Most people know it as SUTA. In Florida, state unemployment tax is called reemployment tax, and the Florida Department of Revenue administers it. If you have employees on payroll, you file a quarterly report and pay tax on each employee's wages up to an annual wage base. It's an employer tax, so nothing comes out of the paycheck for it.
SUTA filing in Florida is easy to forget, because it isn't federal and it never shows up on the IRS calendar. The report is Form RT-6, due by the last day of the month after each quarter ends. Here it's prepared from the same Gusto records used for your quarterly Form 941 filing, as part of our payroll services in Homestead, FL.
If quarters were missed while the business was busy, Alex prepares the missing reports from your payroll and bank records and files them in order.
How Reemployment Tax Works For A Small Employer
The tax is figured on the wages each employee earns during the calendar year, up to the annual wage base. Once someone's wages pass that base, no more tax is due on that person for the rest of the year. That's why the first quarter often carries the largest bill and the last quarter the smallest.
The state sets your rate, and the rate on file is confirmed before the year's first report so the tax is figured correctly. Every Florida reemployment tax filing is reviewed before it goes in, not after a notice arrives.
Employees who leave and come back, seasonal crews that grow during the busy months and staff paid on more than one schedule all make the wage base harder to track by hand. Your payroll processing in Gusto keeps the running totals, and each report is checked against them.
Inside Every Quarterly RT-6 Filing
Each quarter, these pieces of your state unemployment tax filing are prepared, checked and filed for you.
- Gross wages for every employee paid during the quarter
- Taxable wages figured against each employee's annual wage base
- Employee counts for each month of the quarter
- Reemployment tax calculated at the rate on file for your account
- Form RT-6 filed by the last day of the month after the quarter ends
- Tax paid on time from the business account
- Wages compared with the same quarter's Form 941 so state and federal totals line up
Questions About SUTA And Reemployment Tax In Florida
Is reemployment tax the same thing as SUTA?
Yes. SUTA is the general term for state unemployment tax, and reemployment tax is Florida's name for it. The Florida Department of Revenue administers it, employers pay it on each employee's wages up to an annual wage base, and the quarterly report is Form RT-6.
Does Florida reemployment tax come out of employee paychecks?
No. It's an employer tax, so nothing is withheld from employees for it. Florida also has no personal state income tax, which means the only taxes on a Florida pay stub are federal. The cost sits with the business, so it belongs in your payroll budget from the first hire.
How does the RT-6 connect to the federal Form 940?
Both are unemployment taxes on the same employees, one state and one federal. Form 940 is filed once a year by January 31, while the RT-6 is filed every quarter. With both prepared in the same office, the wages behind each one come from the same records and agree.
We missed a few quarters. Can those still be filed?
Yes. The missing reports are prepared from your payroll records and bank statements, filed in order, and the tax owed is paid with them. From there the account is kept current, with each new report filed alongside the federal 941 for the same quarter.
Bring Your Florida Account Up To Date
Tell us when you first had employees and which RT-6 reports have been filed. You'll know what's open and what it takes to keep the account current.