Maine Hourly Paycheck and Payroll Calculator

Maine Hourly Paycheck Calculator

With a lot on your plate as a small business owner, the last thing you want to do is think about payroll taxes. But you know it’s a necessary part of running your business. Keeping up to date with the changing laws, rules, and forms is challenging. That’s why we answered the most commonly asked questions about Maine payroll taxes and paycheck laws.

Here, you’ll find current answers to age-old questions like “What’s the minimum wage in Maine?”

Maine state payroll taxes

Here’s what you need to know about withholding payroll taxes in Maine.

• Maine payroll taxes start with employees filling out 20_Form W-4ME.indd. This information helps you determine how much you should withhold.

• If an employee does not complete this form, you will need to withhold tax as though no exemptions were claimed.

• Employees need to update 20_Form W-4ME.indd in case of life events (such as marriage, divorce, birth or adoption of a child, etc.) which may impact their taxes.

• The personal income tax rate in Maine is 5.8%–7.15%.

Additional Maine forms

In addition to 20_Form W-4ME.indd mentioned above, Maine employers also need to file the following forms:

1. Employer's Payment Voucher for Income Tax Withheld (900ME)*

2. Quarterly Return of Unemployment Contributions (ME-UC-1)

3. Combined Filing for Income Tax Withholding & Unemployment Contributions (941/C1-ME)

4. Wage and Tax Statement (State W2)

5. Reconciliation of Income Tax Withheld (W-3ME)

6. New Hire Report

Maine unemployment tax rate

Maine requires most employers to pay unemployment insurance tax to help compensate workers who are out of work through no fault of their own.

• Employers pay Maine unemployment tax on the first $12,000 of an employee’s wages.

• New employers pay at a rate of 2.24%; 0.07% (CSSF rate), 0.14% (UPAF rate)

• Experienced employers pay at a rate of 0.74–6.16%.

• Unemployment tax in Maine should be paid quarterly to MDOL Unemployment: Employer Services.

Paying Maine taxes

Here’s what you need to know about paying Maine taxes:

• How often employers pay depends on the amount of tax you withhold in a year.

• Maine’s payment frequencies are quarterly and semi-weekly

Maine minimum wage

In 2023, the minimum wage in Maine is $13.80 per hour.

Maine overtime pay

Because Maine doesn’t have any state law governing overtime pay, the federal rules under the Fair Labor Standards Act apply. Generally speaking, hourly employees are to be paid time-and-a-half for all hours worked over 40 hours in a week.

Workers’ Compensation

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.

New hires

Employers in Maine need to report new employees.

• New hires must be reported to Employers | Department of Health and Human Services.

• New hires must be reported within 7 days of their first day of work.

Payroll stubs

You must provide a pay stub to every employee that includes:

1. Company’s legal name and address

2. Employee’s name and last four digits of their Social Security number

3. Pay period beginning and end dates

4. Total hours worked

5. Rate of pay

6. Gross wages

7. The amount and reason for any deduction

Final paychecks

Employers must pay final wages to departing employees on or before the company's next regular payday.

Time off

Maine law requires employers to provide the following types of time off to employees.

• Jury duty

• Family & Medical leave: Employers with 15 or more employees at one location are required to provide this type of leave for the following circumstances: birth, adoption, a serious health condition, organ donation, death/serious health condition related to active military duty. Employers with 25 or more employees must allow paid leave to be used to care for sick family members.

• Domestic violence leave

Federal payroll taxes

In addition to Maine-specific taxes, both you and your employees will pay a variety of federal payroll taxes. Check out the breakdown below.

Federal income tax

Unless they are exempt, your employees will pay federal income tax.

• You must withhold federal income tax from employees’ pay, unless they are exempt.

• Each employee’s Form W-4 will differ based on their filing status and dependents, among other details—so the amount of income tax to be withheld will vary.

• Form W-4 does not need to be sent to the IRS, but should be kept for your records.

FICA

Both you and your employees will pay Federal Insurance Contributions Act, or FICA tax.

• FICA is made up of the Medicare tax and the Social Security tax.

• In 2023, the Social Security tax requires employers and employees to each contribute 6.2% of wages up to $2,600.

• The Medicare tax requires employers and employees to each contribute 1.45% of all wages.

• See the IRS webpage for details, like maximum thresholds.

FUTA

Like the state, the federal government also has an unemployment tax, called FUTA, which is paid by employers.

• FUTA is an annual tax an employer pays on the first $7,000 of each employee’s wages.

• The FUTA rate for 2023 is 6.0%, but many employers are able to pay less, for instance, up to 5.4% each year due to tax credits.

• Most employers will pay this tax annually with Form 940. But larger employers with more than $500 in tax due will have to pay quarterly.

Additional Medicare tax

The Additional Medicare tax is paid by employees. Here’s what you should know:

• For employees that earn over $200,000 per year, 0.9% of earnings will need to be withheld for the Additional Medicare tax.

• Whether or not your employee owes this tax may depend on their filing status.

Paying federal taxes

How often you’ll pay federal payroll taxes depends on how much you owe.

• Semi-weekly or monthly payments are required for federal withholding, Additional Medicare, and FICA taxes. And every quarter, a summary payroll tax return is due on Form 941, Employer’s Quarterly Federal Tax Return.

• Quarterly or annual payments are required for federal unemployment tax. Most employers will pay annually, but quarterly payments are necessary if you owe more than $500. Each time you make a payment, you’ll need to file a payroll tax return on Form 940, Employer’s Annual Federal Unemployment (FUTA) Tax Return.

We’re here to help

If you don’t love manual number crunching and payroll taxes sound overwhelming to you, take advantage of Gusto’s full-service payroll options or use an experienced accountant to help you with the process.