Unemployment taxes
In most cases, if you have employees working in Washington, you must pay unemployment taxes on their wages in this state. Tax reports or tax and wage reports are due quarterly. Liable employers must submit a tax report every quarter, even if there are no paid employees that quarter and/or taxes are unable to be paid.
Employer tips and information
Register your business/hire employees | Unemployment tax handbook (pdf) | Law and regulations | Frequently asked questions | Contact information by topic | Reporting fraud
Tax reports or tax and wage reports, and unemployment tax payments can be filed and paid through our free and efficient online systems, or by submitting our original paper forms.
- For filing tax reports or tax and wage reports online: Use Employer Account Management Services (EAMS) or EAMS for Single Filers to file your tax reports or tax and wage reports online.
- For paying unemployment taxes: You may use either EAMS or ePay to pay your taxes.
To use EAMS or EAMS for Single Filers you will need to be sure to set up your online account in advance. If you choose ePay, become familiar with it before you need to use it to avoid last-minute set-up or compatibility issues.
Management Services (EAMS)
All-in-one service for submitting wage reports, paying taxes and managing your account with us. Some of the following features require advanced access to Locked Services.
- Save, amend, view and file wage reports.
- Copy and paste employee data from quarter to quarter.
- Auto-calculate excess wages.
- Pay your taxes.
- Check your tax rate.
- Bulk-file multiple accounts or large payrolls
- Access EAMS through SecureAccess Washington (SAW).
Use EAMS for Single Filers to submit and pay tax and wage reports. Users who need to make amendments or who are bulk filers should not use EAMS for Single Filers.
- One-time filing of tax reports or tax and wage reports.
- Useful for filing a no-payroll report or tax and wages for a small number of employees.
- Can't amend reports you've filed. Must separately amend tax report by filing
amended Tax & Wage Report. - Auto-calculate excess wages for Washington employees.
- Save unfinished work
- Print reports
- Pay, view and cancel payments
- View account activity
- Control you user account
Use ePay only for paying your unemployment taxes online.
- To use ePay, you must have a confirmation number generated from UIWebTax or EAMS.
NOTICE
Basis for your unemployment taxes
Calculating your unemployment taxes
How to appeal
What to include in unemployment taxes
- Basic reporting requirements
- No-payroll reports
- Zero-hour reports
- Domestic services
- Corporate officers (optional)
Who is excluded from unemployment taxes
Other information
Reminders
Filing reports for clients
Taxable employers:
The Washington State Legislature passed a law in March 2020. It allowed you to apply to offset some of your benefit charges if we paid unemployment benefits in the first two quarters of 2020 to your employees who:
- Were temporarily laid off as a direct or indirect consequence of COVID-19, and
- Returned to work for you after the layoff.
The application deadline was Sept. 30, 2020.