Oklahoma Cuts Unemployment Tax Wage Base and Rates for 2027

Oklahoma's unemployment insurance taxable wage base drops to $24,400 per employee on Jan. 1, 2027, down from $25,000, cutting the maximum annual state unemployment tax for new employers to $366 per worker. The Oklahoma Employment Security Commission confirmed the change as part of its 2027 contribution rate schedule.

Experience-rated employers see their rate range narrow as well. For 2027, rates for experienced employers run from 0.1% to 5.5%, down from 0.2% to 5.8% in 2026. The new-employer rate stays at 1.5%, the commission said.

What changes for payroll on Jan. 1?

Three numbers move or hold steady:

• Wage base: $24,400 per employee, down from $25,000 — a $600 reduction in taxable wages per head.
• Experienced-employer rates: 0.1% to 5.5%, compared with 0.2% to 5.8% in 2026.
• New-employer rate: unchanged at 1.5%.

Because the wage base falls while the new-employer rate holds, the ceiling on state unemployment tax for a new employer drops from $375 to $366 per employee per year. For experienced employers, the actual savings depend on the specific rate assigned.

How does Oklahoma assign rates?

The commission calculates each experienced employer's rate using the employer's benefit wage ratio combined with the state's 29% experience factor. No conditional factor applies for 2027, the commission said — one less variable for payroll teams to model when budgeting next year's liability.

Employers should verify their assigned rate notice before running first-quarter 2027 payroll, and update system configurations with the new $24,400 wage base. Payroll platforms that still carry the 2026 figure will under- or over-withhold state unemployment tax from the first checks of the year.

What else lands on the payroll calendar?

The Oklahoma change arrives amid a cluster of state and federal payroll deadlines that HR and payroll teams need to track together.

Washington's Paid Family & Medical Leave premium rises to 1.2% on Jan. 1, 2027, up from 1.13%. Employers pay 29.3% of that premium and employees pay 70.7%, though employers may cover some or all of the worker share. Employers with fewer than 50 employees generally don't owe the employer share unless they opt in.

New York's Construction Reporting Pay Act takes effect Dec. 8, 2026, requiring covered construction employers to pay reporting employees at least four hours' wages — or their regularly scheduled shift if shorter — at the promised rate, plus shift-cancellation pay.

On the federal side, the IRS will stop accepting information returns through its FIRE system at 3 p.m. ET on Nov. 19. The Information Returns Intake System, or IRIS, replaces FIRE for the 2027 filing season, covering 1099s, 1098s and W-2Gs for gambling winnings. Companies that file directly need an IRIS Transmitter Control Code, which is separate from any existing FIRE credential.

The Department of Labor, meanwhile, withdrew three opinion letters behind the 80/20 rule for tipped employees. The withdrawn guidance had barred employers from claiming the tip credit when tipped workers spent more than 20% of their workweek on related, non-tip-producing duties.

And in Pennsylvania, a court set a three-year deadline for employees to sue over unpaid minimum wages or overtime under state law, rejecting the six-year window a trial court had allowed. The case involved 20 pharmacy employees seeking overtime for work from 2017 to 2019.

Why the wage-base cut matters

Wage-base changes touch every paycheck an Oklahoma employer processes. A $600 cut per employee sounds small, but for a 500-worker company it removes $300,000 in taxable wages from the state UI calculation. At the top experienced rate of 5.5%, that's up to $16,500 in avoided tax; at the 1.5% new-employer rate, it's $4,500.

Payroll teams processing multi-state workloads should treat the Oklahoma update as one item on a longer January checklist, alongside the Washington premium increase and the IRIS transition. Confirming rate notices and wage-base settings in December prevents first-quarter corrections, penalty exposure and employee-facing fixes later.