The Delaware training tax is a small payroll assessment that most employers pay along with their state unemployment insurance. For 2026, the rate is 0.11% on the first $14,500 of each employee’s wages, capping the annual bill at $15.95 per worker.1Delaware Code Online. Delaware Code Title 19 – Counseling, Training and Placement Activities The revenue funds job-training programs for displaced workers, economically disadvantaged residents, and young people moving into the workforce.
Who Owes It
If your business pays into Delaware’s unemployment insurance system based on a tax rate, you owe the training tax. The statute treats it as a special assessment layered on top of the other payments due under Title 19, Chapter 33.1Delaware Code Online. Delaware Code Title 19 – Counseling, Training and Placement Activities
Two groups are exempt. Nonprofits that reimburse the state dollar-for-dollar for actual unemployment benefits paid to former employees, rather than paying a standard tax rate, do not owe the training tax. Government agencies and political subdivisions are also excluded.2Delaware Code Online. Delaware Code Title 19 Chapter 33 – Unemployment Compensation Definitions The dividing line is how you handle unemployment claims: contributory employers pay a rate and owe the training tax; reimbursing employers do not.
Only wages paid to employees count. Independent contractors sit outside the unemployment wage base and outside the training tax with it.
Rate and Taxable Wage Base for 2026
The training tax rate slides with the taxable wage base, so as the wage base rises the rate falls and the per-employee cost stays roughly flat. Section 3401 of Title 19 sets the scale:1Delaware Code Online. Delaware Code Title 19 – Counseling, Training and Placement Activities
- $18,500 wage base: 0.085%
- $16,500 wage base: 0.095%
- $14,500 wage base: 0.11%
- $12,500 wage base: 0.126%
- $10,500 wage base: 0.15%
House Bill 433, enacted in 2024, replaced the old trust-fund-balance method for setting the wage base with a fixed phase-in: $12,500 for 2025, $14,500 for 2026, and $16,500 for 2027 and beyond.3State of Delaware. Delaware Division of Unemployment Insurance Announces New Tax Schedules for 2025 The 2026 wage base of $14,500 pairs with the 0.11% rate.
Calculating What You Owe
For each employee, multiply their wages up to $14,500 by 0.0011. Once cumulative pay for the year crosses that cap, no further training tax accrues on that worker.
An employee who earns at least $14,500 during the year generates the maximum: $14,500 × 0.0011 = $15.95. A seasonal worker who earns $8,000 generates $8.80. Because the training tax rides the same wage base as unemployment insurance, your payroll system tracks a single running total for both.
Filing and Paying
The training tax is reported and paid as part of your regular quarterly unemployment insurance filing. The main form is the UC-8 Quarterly Tax Report, which captures gross wages, excess wages above the taxable wage base, and the resulting tax. The UC-8A schedule lists individual employee wage detail.4Delaware Department of Labor. State of Delaware Unemployment Insurance Quarterly Tax Report
Filing runs through the state’s Online Employer Services portal at oes.delawareworks.com, which handles both wage reporting and electronic payment.5Delaware Department of Labor. Online Employer Services Quarterly reports are generally due by the end of the month following the quarter: April 30, July 31, October 31, and January 31. Delaware occasionally extends a deadline when rate notices go out late, as it did for the first quarter of 2026.6Delaware Department of Labor. Employer Services Keep the digital confirmation after each submission.
Penalties for a Missed Filing
Late training tax payments carry the same consequences as delinquent unemployment insurance, because both flow through the same report. Under H.B. 433, Delaware assigns a delinquency assessment rate of 6.3% of taxable wages to employers who fail to file required quarterly reports.3State of Delaware. Delaware Division of Unemployment Insurance Announces New Tax Schedules for 2025 That’s dramatically higher than a normal unemployment rate plus the training tax combined.
The Department may waive the delinquency rate for good cause, at its sole discretion. If the state believes collection is at risk, it can demand reports and payments for periods shorter than a full quarter and ahead of the usual due date. Any payment you make while delinquent gets applied to the oldest debt first: penalties, then interest, then the underlying assessments.7Delaware Code Online. Delaware Code Title 19 Chapter 33 – Unemployment Compensation Subchapter III
Recordkeeping
Delaware can assess unpaid unemployment and training taxes for up to four years after the required quarterly report was filed.7Delaware Code Online. Delaware Code Title 19 Chapter 33 – Unemployment Compensation Subchapter III The IRS separately requires employers to keep employment tax records for at least four years after filing the fourth-quarter return for the year.8Internal Revenue Service. Employment Tax Recordkeeping Keep quarterly wage detail for each employee, copies of filed UC-8 and UC-8A forms, payment confirmations from the online portal, and any correspondence from the Division of Unemployment Insurance.
The four-year window does not apply to fraudulent or intentionally evasive returns, which can be assessed with no time limit.7Delaware Code Online. Delaware Code Title 19 Chapter 33 – Unemployment Compensation Subchapter III
What the Tax Funds
The training tax feeds Delaware’s Blue Collar Jobs Program, which supports workforce development for economically disadvantaged workers and people facing barriers to employment. The Division of Unemployment Insurance collects the tax and keeps 10% for administration. The remaining revenue is split: 25% goes to the Delaware Economic Development Office for industrial training and career advancement, and 75% flows to the Delaware Private Industry Council and the Division of Employment and Training for retraining displaced workers, school-to-work programs, and other training initiatives.9Delaware Department of Labor. About the Division of Employment and Training Employers that invest in upskilling can sometimes tap grants funded by the same assessment they pay.
If You’re Buying a Delaware Business
Acquiring a Delaware business can bring its unemployment and training tax history along with it. A mandatory experience transfer happens when the new owner maintains substantial continuity of ownership and management of the predecessor’s business. A voluntary transfer can be approved at the successor’s request when the new entity continues essentially the same activity.10U.S. Department of Labor. UIPL 34-02 Revised Either way, the predecessor’s benefit charges follow, which shapes your unemployment tax rate and whether you’re treated as a rated or delinquent employer. Confirm the target business’s filing status before closing.