Illinois Hourly Paycheck and Payroll Calculator

Illinois Hourly Payroll Calculator

This article will help you understand what you need to do to process Illinois payroll for your hourly workers.

Payroll taxes in Illinois

There are two state taxes to be aware of in Illinois: personal income tax and unemployment tax.

Personal Income Tax in Illinois

Personal income tax in Illinois is a flat 4.95% for 2022. Although you might be tempted to take an employee’s earnings and multiply by 4.95% to come to a withholding amount, it’s not that easy. 

You’ll use your employee’s IL-W-4 to calculate how much to withhold from their paycheck. Withholding is based upon the number of allowances an employee claims. When an employee doesn’t provide an IL-W-4, you’re required to withhold tax as if no allowances were claimed.

You’ll need to send the withheld taxes to the Illinois Department of Revenue either monthly or semi-weekly depending on the amount of tax due. 
For employees who reside in Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, and Wisconsin, they’ll complete IL-W-5-NR. Since Illinois has a tax reciprocity agreement with these neighboring states, these non-resident employees are exempt from Illinois withholding.

Unemployment Tax in Illinois

Unemployment taxes in Illinois are required to be paid by most employers.

Generally, if you paid at least $1,500 in wages in a single calendar quarter or had at least one employee for at least 20 weeks in a year, you’re required to pay unemployment tax. There are different requirements for domestic workers, farm employees, and non-profit organizations. 

The tax rate you’ll pay depends on several factors, including your business’s industry, how many employees you have, and the amount of claims made by your former employees. For 2022, rates start at 0.725% and can be as high as 7.625%. 
You’ll pay this tax each quarter using Form UI-3/40.

Federal Payroll Taxes

Federal Income Tax (FIT)

Withholding federal income tax from your employee’s pay is dependent on the information on Form W-4.  New employees should complete this form when they begin working for you and update it whenever anything changes the amount of tax they owe. 

Hang on to these forms for your records. Don’t send them to the IRS.

Additional Medicare Tax

Depending on your employee’s tax filing status, they may owe the Additional Medicare Tax. However, since you won’t know whether they owe the tax or not, you’re required to withhold 0.9% of an employee’s earnings above $200,000 per year.

Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA)

The FICA tax is made up of the Medicare tax and the Social Security tax.In 2022, the Social Security tax requires employers and employees to each contribute 6.2% of wages up to $147,000. The Medicare tax requires each to contribute 1.45% of all wages. See this IRS webpage for details, like maximum thresholds.

Federal Unemployment Tax Act (FUTA)

Like the state, the federal government also has an unemployment tax. It’s called FUTA and it’s an annual tax employers pay on the first $7,000 of each employee’s wages. The FUTA rate for 2022 is 6%, but most employers only have to pay 0.6% each year.

Important Illinois payroll tax laws and information

Make sure you are aware of the following employer obligations:

1. Report new hires in Illinois

All Illinois employers must report new hires within 20 days after the new employee’s first day working. 

2. Illinois Minimum Wage

As of January 1, 2022, the minimum wage in Illinois is $12.00/hour. Different rates apply to tipped employees and employees under 18 years of age.

You may pay up to $0.50 less an hour for your new hires in their first 90 days of employment. This applies to workers over the age of 18.

3. Overtime Pay in Illinois

Illinois labor laws require you to pay overtime rates to hourly employees for any hours worked over a 40-hour workweek. The rate you must pay for any overtime hours is 1 ½ of your hourly-paid employees’ regular hourly rate. 

Compensatory time in lieu of overtime if prohibited in Illinois.

4. PTO, Holiday, and Sick Leave in Illinois

All employers in Illinois are required to pay their employees for any earned vacation hours upon separation from your business. Sick pay is not required to be paid at separation unless the employer’s written policy says so. 

The Employee Sick Leave Act requires employers to allow employees to use any sick leave they earned to care for certain relatives under the employer policies.

Employers are not obligated to pay hourly employees for any hours not worked, including holidays.

5. Illinois final paycheck requirements

All Illinois employers must provide terminated hourly employees their final paycheck no later than on the next scheduled payday. All final compensation includes:

• Bonus wages
• Commissions
• Vacation pay
• Wages

The same paystub termination rule applies to any worker who voluntarily resigns from their employer.

6. Workers’ compensation in Illinois

Requirements to obtain Workers’ Compensation vary by state, this table outlines some of these requirements. If you determine that your company is required to purchase Workers’ Compensation insurance in your state, learn how to sign up for this insurance with Gusto. Sometimes, companies get a request for a workers’ comp audit. Head to this article and click the workers’ comp audit reports dropdown for more information.

The bottom line on Illinois hourly payroll tax

Processing Illinois payroll taxes for your hourly employees in an accurate and timely manner is crucial. Doing so will ensure your business runs as smoothly as possible. The last thing you would want on your books is a hefty tax penalty.
While tax rates fluctuate every year, staying on top of your numbers and documentation will come in handy. Using Gusto’s payroll software or a tax professional is a smart investment to tackle questions and challenges.