Texas Payroll Instructions

Texas has no state income tax, and no payroll tax withholding. However, employers still need to withhold federal tax, Medicare and social security, and pay several employer taxes (including Medicare, social security, SUTA and FUTA).

HINT: TurtleSoft provides free annual updates for US federal and Texas tax withholding rates.

Texas State Withholding Instructions

To enter withholding information for an employee in your Goldenseal company file, follow these steps:

  1. Open the Payroll tab on the left, and choose Employees.
  2. Locate the employee's record.
  3. Click the Payroll Setup button.
  4. Enter the employee's marital status into the Marital Status field.
  5. Enter the number of federal dependents into the Federal Exemptions field.
  6. Enter a Texas Tax Package into the Tax Package field, based on the employee’s W4 form. Choose Old W4 for pre-2020 forms. Choose New W4 Step2- if they did not check the box in step 2 of the new form. Choose Step2+ if they did check it. HINT: If you don't see Texas packages in the list, you'll need to import the tax info first.
  7. Click OK.

Texas State Unemployment Tax Instructions

In 2022 the Texas SUTA tax for unemployment insurance applies to the first $9,000 in wages for each employee (unchanged since 2006). The starting rate for a new company is 2.7% (except for some industries that have a higher rate). Rates for experienced companies range from .29% to 7.7% depending on their ratio of contributions to claims.

To enter your Texas state SUTA tax rate into Goldenseal payroll software, follow these steps:

  1. Choose Payroll Setup from the Costs menu, and choose Tax Items.
  2. You'll see a list of Tax Items. Open the Texas SUTA item. HINT: If you don't see Texas SUTA in the list, you'll first need to import your state's payroll tax tables.
  3. Enter the percentage rate for your business into the percent field to the right of Calculation method.
  4. If the cutoff has changed, enter it into the dollar field next to First Adjustment.

Texas Marital Status

Use the following to determine the value for the Marital Status popup menu in each Employee account:

State Tax Contacts

Website

Little Known Texas Tax Fact

There is a Texas Tack Tax of two tenths of a cent per tack package. This tax was enacted so Texas legislators could polish their elocution, while debating its renewal each year.

Official State Lawn Ornament

Mesquite.