Separate included, user-entered and excluded cost classes
| Cost class | Source class | Treatment |
|---|---|---|
| Annual cash pay | Business payroll or offer record | User-entered |
| Employer Social Security and Medicare | IRS Publication 15, registered 2026 dependency | Included by the existing engine |
| State unemployment, workers compensation and benefits | Current state, insurer, plan and business records | User-entered after verification |
| FUTA, exemptions, classification and payroll treatment | Outside the registered fixture | Excluded; stop and verify separately |
Paid hours are not always productive hours
Annual salary can already cover paid leave and non-delivery time. Represent salary-covered leave by reducing productive capacity, not by adding the same cost again. Enter a separate annual cash cost only when a current record identifies a distinct incremental cost.
Use QCEW only to choose a broad context
Worked scenario: from annual pay to productive-hour cost
USD80,000 annual pay with separately entered employer costs
Every calculated row comes from the existing US total-employee-cost engine and its registered FICA configuration. The other-cost allowance is a hypothetical user input, not a market benchmark.
| Scenario row | Value | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Annual cash pay | $80,000.00 | Illustrative user input |
| Supported federal employer components | $6,120.00 | Engine-derived Social Security and Medicare |
| Other entered employer costs | $12,000.00 | Hypothetical user-entered state, insurance, benefit or other distinct costs |
| Annual loaded employee cost | $98,120.00 | Annual pay plus supported federal components and entered other costs |
| Productive hours | 1,666 hours | Engine-derived from the user scenario; lower than paid hours |
| Cost per productive hour | $58.90/hour | Annual loaded cost divided by productive hours |
Stop before an employee-contractor comparison when status is unresolved
Checklist, sources and refresh trigger
- Confirm annual cash pay and the federal FICA scope. (not complete)
- Enter applicable state unemployment, workers compensation, benefits and other distinct costs from current records. (not complete)
- Reduce productive hours for salary-covered leave; do not add the same leave again as an annual cost. (not complete)
- Treat QCEW as broad context only and stop before a worker-status or payroll determination. (not complete)
The federal row acknowledges irs-employer-fica-2026-us@2026-07-16. Refresh this companion when the IRS evidence tuple, employer-tax period, engine contract or governed QCEW asset changes.
Reviewed source trail
- Margin101 DataHub: US 2026 employer FICA components — Margin101: Retained IRS evidence, exact supported claims and verification history.
- Margin101 DataHub: 2024 US private-industry employment and wage context — Margin101: Approved QCEW asset us-qcew-industry-wages-2024; source tuple 7cd7955313026612bc2b6696921d0d4dc76abb909a651ae590bd932c056a0060.
- Publication 15 (2026), Employer’s Tax Guide — Internal Revenue Service: Official source for the supported employer Social Security and Medicare components.
- Employment and Wages Annual Averages — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: Coverage and limitation context for the governed 2024 QCEW asset.
Continue the employee-cost decision
- US Total Employee Cost Planner
Plan US loaded employee cost, productive capacity, staffing budget and a hire-or-overtime threshold
- US Contractor vs Employee Cost
Compare a confirmed US employee-cost scenario with contractor service cost without determining worker classification
- Labour Recovery Rate Planner
Set a charge-out rate from productive hours and loaded labour
- Service Rate & Quote Planner
Set a viable rate and project quote
- Overtime vs Hire Comparison
Compare overtime and hire cost at an entered demand level, including capacity and exact overtime-cost contribution
US employee-cost boundary questions
- Do the federal FICA rows equal total employee cost?
- No. They are only the supported federal components. Enter applicable state unemployment, workers compensation, benefits and other distinct employer costs from current records.
- Can the QCEW asset set a wage or service rate?
- No. It is broad national industry context, excludes self-employed workers and employer non-wage contributions, and is not a quote, local rate, recommended wage or total-cost benchmark.
- Does a lower modelled cost decide employee or contractor status?
- No. Cost comparison does not determine worker status, employment rights, payroll treatment or the appropriate hiring choice.