Nevada Hourly Paycheck and Payroll Calculator

Nevada Hourly Paycheck Calculator

Does the mere thought of Nevada payroll taxes make you want to run for the hills? We know how you feel. Here’s some good news: you will get up to speed fast with a quick rundown (below) of payroll taxes in Nevada. And if you’d rather have someone else take the reins, experienced accountants and payroll software can take the lead in overcoming even the most nerve-wracking payroll challenges. 

Payroll taxes in Nevada

Unlike most states in the nation, Nevada does not have a personal income tax. So, there is no need to withhold state income taxes on employees’ wages, but you still need to withhold federal taxes.

Nevada does, however, have something called a Modified Business Tax (MBT). Nevada levies a tax on businesses that pay unemployment insurance. The MBT is a quarterly tax paid by the employer and is based upon your employees’ taxable wages. You may not deduct the MBT from your employees.   

For 2020 and beyond, if you are a financial institution or a mining company, the MBT tax is 1.853% of taxable wages. If you are a general business, taxable wages over $50,000 in a calendar quarter get taxed at 1.378%.  

Businesses earning more than $4 million per year receive a credit of up to 50% of the Commerce Tax paid the prior fiscal year to offset their MBT liability.
To compute the amount of tax for general businesses, use Form MBT-GB, Form MBT-FI for financial institutions, and Form MBT-MI for mining businesses.

Nevada unemployment insurance

Nevada calculates the unemployment tax each year. The taxable wage base is equal to 66 ⅔ percent of the Nevada average annual wage for employees. And for 2022, the first $36,600 of an employee’s earnings is taxable for employment insurance.  

Unemployment tax rates range from 0.25% to 5.4%, depending on your history of claims. New employers pay a standard contribution rate of 2.95% for three to four years, depending on when you become subject to paying unemployment taxes. When your rate changes, you will receive a Notice of Employer’s Contribution Rate each December, letting you know your rate for the coming year.
You will file and report your unemployment taxes each quarter, even if no wages were paid, with the Employment Security Division of the Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation. Generally, you may file online or on paper.  If the quarterly tax due is $10,000 or more, you must pay through the Electronic Payment System.

Federal payroll taxes in Nevada

All Nevada employers and employees pay various federal payroll taxes. You are responsible for paying or withholding four types. 

Employee paid

• Federal income tax 
• Additional Medicare tax

Employer-paid

• Federal unemployment tax

Both employee and employer-paid

• Social Security and Medicare tax

Federal income tax

Form W-4 will help you calculate how much federal income tax to withhold from your employees’ pay. Employees should complete this form when hired and anytime they have changes that will impact the amount of tax they will owe. Learn more about completing Form W-4.

You’ll use the information on a W-4 along with tax tables to compute the tax withholding. Fortunately, payroll software can help with this math and make the calculations for you.

File away those W-4 forms—no need to mail them to the IRS.

Additional Medicare tax

You may have employees who owe the Additional Medicare tax. You must withhold a 0.9% tax when an employee earns $200,000 or more per year.

Federal unemployment tax

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.

Social Security and Medicare tax

The Federal Insurance Contributions Act, or 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 the IRS webpage for details, like maximum thresholds.

Filing and paying federal payroll taxes

You’ll need to send the withheld taxes and your portion of FICA to the IRS either monthly or semi-weekly, depending on how much tax you owe. And each quarter, you’ll need to do a summary report on Form 941. 
For federal unemployment tax, you’ll need to make quarterly payments if your tax is more than $500. If your tax is less than $500 a year, you can pay the tax when you complete your annual summary report on Form 940.

Other Nevada paycheck laws

Here are some other paycheck laws in Nevada you should be aware of.

• New hires: Employers must report new or rehired employees to the Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation within 20 days of hire.  
• Pay stubs: Pay stubs must include an itemized list of deductions from the total wages. 
• Minimum wage: 

• Pay dates: Pay hourly employees at least twice each month.
• Overtime: Pay employees 1 ½ times an employee’s regular rate when they work overtime, which is more than 40 hours in a week or more than 8 hours in one day. If the employee agrees to work 10 hours per day in 4 days, overtime is not required.
• Paid leave: Employers with 50 or more employees must provide paid leave. You must give your employees at least 0.01923 hours of paid leave for each hour of work.  
• Final paychecks: When you fire or lay off an employee, you must pay them immediately.  If an employee quits, you must give them their last paycheck within 7 days or by the next regular payday, whichever is earlier. 
• Domestic violence leave: Employees, who have been employed at least 90 days, or their family members who have been victims of domestic violence get 160 hours of unpaid leave in one 12-month period for these domestic violence-related reasons:
  • To seek diagnosis, care, or medical treatment 
  • To get counseling or assistance
  • To attend court proceedings
  • To establish a safety plan

Workers’ Compensation insurance: 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.