Payroll Nevada: Employer Tax and Software Guide
Nevada payroll for employers: no income tax but a 1.17% Modified Business Tax, the $43,700 unemployment base, daily overtime, and 10 providers compared.
Nevada Payroll: The Employer Guide
No state income tax, an employer excise tax most people have never heard of, an unemployment wage base more than six times California's, and how 10 payroll providers price the work
I build HR software for small businesses, and the first thing I'd tell any owner hiring in Nevada is that the lack of a state income tax is only half the story. This guide covers what Nevada actually requires, where the rules bite hardest, and how 10 payroll providers price the work, with published rates modeled at 5, 15, and 50 employees.
The good half is real. Nevada has no state income tax, and the prohibition sits in the state constitution rather than in a statute that a future legislature might quietly amend. For an employer, that removes an entire layer of work: no state withholding calculation, no state W-4, no quarterly withholding return.
The other half holds the most expensive misconception in Nevada payroll: no income tax does not mean no payroll tax. Nevada charges employers a quarterly excise tax on wages that many owners never hear about until a notice arrives.
The state also runs an unemployment wage base more than six times California's and requires workers compensation from the very first employee, with fines up to $15,000 for going without. And it is one of four states with a general daily overtime rule.
No income tax is not the same as no payroll tax
Three state-level obligations sit on top of federal payroll in Nevada. None of them is income tax withholding, and all three are paid by the employer rather than deducted from employees.
Modified Business Tax
The Modified Business Tax is a quarterly excise tax on wages under chapters 363A and 363B of the Nevada Revised Statutes (NRS), administered by the Nevada Department of Taxation.
For general business employers the rate is 1.17 percent on gross wages after deducting employer-paid health benefit costs, with the first $50,000 of quarterly wages exempt. Financial institutions and mining businesses pay 1.554 percent from the first dollar with no exemption at all.
| Employer type | Rate | Quarterly exemption | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| General business | 1.17% | First $50,000 of wages | Health benefit costs paid by the employer are deductible first |
| Financial institutions | 1.554% | None | Taxed from the first dollar of wages |
| Mining businesses | 1.554% | None | Same treatment as financial institutions |
| Below the exemption | No tax | Applies | A return must still be filed every quarter |
Two things trip employers up here. The first is the rate itself: since July 1, 2023, the general rate has been 1.17 percent, cut from 1.378 percent by the Department of Taxation's rate reduction calculation under NRS 360.203. A payroll setup still carrying the old rate overpays.
The second trap is the filing rule: a Modified Business Tax return is required every quarter even when no tax is due, including quarters where wages fall below the $50,000 threshold. Registering with the Employment Security Division for unemployment automatically creates the Modified Business Tax account, so most employers have one whether they realize it or not.
Unemployment insurance
Nevada unemployment insurance is paid entirely by the employer, with nothing withheld from employees, and administered by the Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation.
Under NRS 612.545, the taxable wage base, meaning the yearly cap on each employee's wages that the tax applies to, is reset every year at two thirds of the average annual wage for Nevada workers. That is why it rises with Nevada pay and sits so far above the federal floor.
| Item | Figure | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Taxable wage base | $45,400 from January 1, 2027 | $43,700 through December 31, 2026; set each year by NRS 612.545 |
| New employer rate | 2.95% | Fixed by NRS 612.540 and kept roughly 14 to 17 calendar quarters |
| Experience-rated range | 0.25% to 5.40% | 2026 schedule, assigned once the new employer period ends |
| Career Enhancement Program | 0.05% | Added on top of the assigned rate, except at the 5.4% maximum rate |
The wage base deserves attention because it is genuinely unusual. At $45,400 from January 1, 2027 ($43,700 through December 31, 2026), a Nevada employer pays unemployment tax on more than six times the wage volume that a California employer does, since California still uses the $7,000 federal minimum.
For a new employer at the 2.95 percent rate, the maximum annual cost is about $1,339 per employee from 2027 (about $1,289 in 2026), before the Career Enhancement Program charge.
Workers compensation
Workers compensation is mandatory in Nevada from the first employee, with no small employer exemption, according to the Division of Industrial Relations. An employer without coverage faces an administrative fine of up to $15,000 and may be ordered to close until insurance is obtained.
The premium is not a payroll deduction and does not run through the payroll system, but the coverage itself is a state requirement that attaches the moment the first person is hired.
The full list of Nevada payroll taxes
Nevada payroll taxes sit in two layers: the federal ones every US employer pays, and the state ones, which fall entirely on the employer. Nothing on the state side is deducted from anybody, so the only withholding on a Nevada pay stub is federal: income tax plus the employee share at the Social Security and Medicare rates the IRS publishes for the year.
| Tax | Rate | Who pays | Applies to |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nevada income tax | None | Nobody | Constitutionally prohibited, so there is no state W-4 |
| Federal income tax | Per the employee W-4 | Employee | Withheld by the employer using IRS tables |
| Social Security | 6.2 percent each side | Both | First $184,500 of wages in 2026 |
| Medicare | 1.45 percent each side | Both | All wages, plus 0.9 percent on the employee above $200,000 |
| Federal unemployment | 6 percent less a credit up to 5.4 percent | Employer | First $7,000 of wages, so 0.6 percent for most employers |
| Nevada unemployment | 2.95 percent for new employers | Employer | First $45,400 of wages from 2027 ($43,700 in 2026) |
| Modified Business Tax | 1.17 percent for general business | Employer | Quarterly wages above $50,000 after health benefit costs |
| Workers compensation | Premium set by class code | Employer | Required from the first employee, paid to an insurer rather than the state |
The shape of that list is what makes Nevada cheap to administer rather than cheap to staff. You run the same federal payroll as an employer anywhere else, add two employer-side taxes, and skip the state withholding calculation, the state certificate at onboarding, and the quarterly withholding return that goes with them.
Where Nevada gets strict: wages, tips, and the eight-hour day
The tax side of Nevada is light to administer. The wage and hour side is not, and two rules in particular catch employers arriving from other states.
A flat minimum wage with no tip credit
The minimum wage is a flat $12.00 per hour, and Nevada does not permit a tip credit at all. Tipped workers receive the full $12.00 in cash wages and tips sit on top. Ballot Question 2, approved by voters in November 2022, also eliminated the previous two-tier structure that set different minimums depending on whether the employer offered qualifying health benefits.
In a state where hospitality and gaming employ a large share of the workforce, this is the single most consequential wage rule. An operator moving from a tip credit state and configuring payroll on the old assumption underpays every tipped employee from day one.
Daily overtime under NRS 608.018
Nevada is one of four states with a general daily overtime requirement, alongside Alaska, California, and Colorado. Its version is unusual because eligibility depends on the employee's hourly rate rather than on job duties alone. The Labor Commissioner's 2026 daily overtime bulletin puts the cutoff at $18.00 an hour, 1.5 times the $12.00 minimum wage.
| Employee hourly rate | Overtime trigger | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Under $18.00 | After 8 hours in a workday, and after 40 in a week | 1.5 times the minimum wage threshold under NRS 608.018 |
| $18.00 or more | After 40 hours in a week only | Standard federal Fair Labor Standards Act rule applies |
| 4-10 schedule by mutual agreement | After 10 hours in a workday | Scheduled 10 hours a day for 4 days; the Labor Commissioner counts overtime from hour 11 (AO-2025-01) |
Under NRS 608.0126, the workday is a rolling 24-hour period beginning when the employee first starts work, not a calendar day, which matters for anyone running split or overnight shifts.
Because the daily overtime threshold is set at 1.5 times the minimum wage, it moves automatically whenever the minimum wage moves. If Nevada's minimum rises above $12.00, the daily overtime threshold rises with it and the set of employees covered changes without any action by the employer.
10 payroll providers for Nevada employers compared
Every provider below files Nevada unemployment. The differences that matter here are whether the platform handles the Modified Business Tax return, whether daily overtime is computed correctly, and whether the price is published at all.
| Provider | Best For | Starting Price | Pricing Model | NV Filing | Multi-State Included | Onboarding Tools | Trial |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| OnPay | Every state in the base price | $49 + $6/ee | Base + PEPM | 1 month | |||
| Gusto | First payroll purchase | $49 + $6/ee | Base + PEPM | Until 1st run | |||
| Patriot | Lowest cost, single state | $37 + $5/ee | Base + PEPM | 30 days | |||
| QuickBooks Workforce | Books already in QuickBooks | $50 + $7/ee | Base + PEPM | 30 days | |||
| SurePayroll | Micro and household employers | $29 + $7/ee | Base + PEPM | 6 free months | |||
| Square | Casinos, bars, and restaurants | $35 + $6/ee | Flat + PEPM | None listed | |||
| Paylocity | Growing into the mid-market | Quote | Quote | Demo | |||
| ADP RUN | Compliance depth for small teams | Quote | Quote | 3 months | |||
| Paychex Flex | A person to call about a notice | Quote | Quote | 3 months | |||
| Rippling | Payroll tied to HR and IT | $40 + $8/user | Modular PEPM | Demo |
OnPay
OnPay's Payroll Essentials base plan runs $49 per month plus $6 per employee, with the HR add-on and time tracking sold separately. Tax filing covers all 50 states with no multi-state surcharge, useful for a Nevada employer with staff across the California, Arizona, or Utah lines. Year-end W-2 and 1099 filing is included, and the first month is free.
Gusto
Gusto counts more than 500,000 businesses as customers. Tax filing is automatic, pricing is published, and the Simple plan runs $49 per month plus $6 per employee after a 2025 base increase. Onboarding and benefits tooling comes built in alongside payroll.
Two Nevada-specific notes. Simple covers single-state payroll only, so one California hire moves the account to Plus at $80 plus $12 per employee. Time tracking, meanwhile, is included in Plus but costs extra on Simple, through the Time & Attendance Plus add-on at $6 per person a month. Given the daily overtime rule, that matters more here than elsewhere.
Patriot Software
Patriot's Full Service plan runs $37 per month plus $5 per employee and covers federal, state, and local tax filing. That price gives it the lowest monthly total in the cost table below at every headcount modeled: for a small single-state Nevada business, no other full-service plan here costs less at five or more employees.
Additional state filings cost $12 per month each. Basic at $17 plus $4 calculates only and leaves depositing and filing to the employer, which with two separate Nevada agencies to satisfy is a poor trade for most owners.
QuickBooks Workforce
QuickBooks Workforce (formerly QuickBooks Payroll) starts with Workforce Payroll, the old Core plan, at $50 per month plus $7 per employee, and every tier includes full-service tax filing. That price follows a per-employee increase across the Workforce plans on July 1, 2026.
The argument for QuickBooks Workforce is unchanged: if the books already live in QuickBooks Online, payroll entries land in the general ledger without an export step.
SurePayroll
SurePayroll is owned by Paychex and aimed at very small and household employers, at roughly $29 per month plus $7 per employee. The distinguishing feature is a flat $9.99 monthly multi-state fee regardless of how many states are involved, which beats per-state pricing for anyone in three or more.
Square Payroll
Square Payroll runs full-service payroll at $35 per month plus $6 per person paid, with tax filing included. For a Las Vegas or Reno restaurant, bar, or retail business already running Square point of sale, hours and tips flow into payroll with nothing to configure. Given that Nevada allows no tip credit and requires daily overtime tracking, having hours and tips arrive automatically removes two of the more error-prone manual steps.
Paylocity
Paylocity is a full HR and payroll platform aimed above the smallest end of the market, with strong multi-jurisdiction handling and a well-regarded self-service experience. For a Nevada company growing into the mid-market or operating in several states, it becomes a reasonable candidate. Pricing is quote-only.
ADP RUN
ADP RUN is built around tax compliance: it files federal, state, and local payroll taxes and updates its tax rules across all 50 states.
For a Nevada account, ask for the Modified Business Tax return and the daily overtime calculation to be confirmed in the quote rather than assumed. ADP publishes no rates, so every package, from Essential through Enhanced, Complete, and HR Pro, is priced by quote.
Paychex Flex
Paychex Flex is a service relationship rather than a software subscription. It runs four payroll packages, Basic through Complete, and Complete adds a dedicated payroll specialist. Pricing is quote-only for every package. The Nevada argument is specific: when a wage comparison deficiency notice arrives from the Department of Taxation, having someone to call is worth real money.
Rippling
Rippling is a unified employee record where payroll, HR, and IT provisioning share one data model. Its pricing page is a custom-quote form, but its small-business page starts payroll plans at $8 per user per month plus a $40 monthly base fee. Rippling's own blog starts the core platform, its HR information system, at $8 per employee and prices payroll as a separate module at $8 more on annual billing, so configured quotes run higher.
Rippling's time tracking is native rather than bolted on, which is a genuine advantage under Nevada daily overtime, but the platform is overbuilt for a small single-location business.
What each provider actually costs a Nevada employer
The table below models published software rates at three headcounts plus what happens when a second state enters the picture, which for a Nevada employer usually means California or Arizona.
| Provider | 5 employees | 15 employees | 50 employees | 2nd State Cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Patriot Full Service | $62 | $112 | $287 | $12/mo per extra state | Cheapest single-state option |
| SurePayroll | $64 | $134 | $379 | $9.99/mo flat | Micro-employer focus |
| Square Payroll | $65 | $125 | $335 | Included | Strong for hourly and tipped staff |
| OnPay | $79 | $139 | $349 | Included | HR and time tracking are add-ons |
| Gusto Simple | $79 | $139 | $349 | Forces Plus tier | A California hire changes this |
| QuickBooks Workforce Payroll | $85 | $155 | $400 | State filing fees apply | General ledger sync |
| ADP RUN Essential | Quote | Quote | Quote | Quote | No published rates for any package |
Worth keeping in proportion: the software subscription is the smaller number. On the plans modeled above, a 15-person Nevada payroll costs somewhere between $112 and $155 per month in software.
Unemployment insurance alone, at the new employer rate, can reach about $20,100 a year for the same 15 people from 2027 (about $19,300 in 2026) once each passes the wage base, and that is before the Modified Business Tax and workers compensation premiums. Optimizing the subscription is worth doing, but not at the cost of a provider that mishandles the state obligations.
Payroll services in Las Vegas
Payroll services in Las Vegas sort into the same two groups as anywhere else: the national platforms compared above, and local bureaus that process runs for Clark County businesses on a service-heavy model. What separates a good fit from a poor one here is the shape of the workforce rather than the tax code, which is identical across the state.
A Las Vegas payroll is typically hourly, tipped, and running around the clock. That combination puts three Nevada rules in play on a single shift: the full $12.00 cash minimum with no tip credit, daily overtime past 8 hours for anyone under $18.00 per hour, and a workday measured as a rolling 24 hours from clock-in rather than by the calendar.
The deciding question for a Las Vegas buyer is where the hours come from. A platform that pulls clock-in data from the point of sale or from a native time clock can apply those three rules correctly. One fed a weekly hours total from a spreadsheet cannot, whatever it costs. Ask a local bureau the same question you would ask the ten providers above.
Choosing a payroll provider for Nevada
Four questions separate providers that will work here from providers that will generate notices.
Beyond the payroll engine, Nevada requires new hire reporting and workers compensation coverage from the first employee.
Before you choose
FirstHR is an onboarding and HR platform, not a payroll provider. The work to run payroll, file payroll taxes, and administer benefits comes from the providers above, so if payroll is the problem you are solving, one of them is your answer.
What we handle is the layer underneath. Nevada has no state W-4 to collect, which removes one form, but the rest of the onboarding paperwork still has to happen before anyone can be paid correctly: the I-9, the federal W-4, a signed direct deposit authorization, and confirmation that workers compensation coverage was in place before the first shift.
FirstHR covers onboarding workflows that put the I-9 and W-4 on each new hire's first-day task list, with the completed forms kept in the employee file, plus e-signatures on offer letters and acknowledgments, document collection, and employee records, at a flat $98 a month for up to 10 people or $198 for 11 to 50.
If the recurring failure in your Nevada payroll is paperwork arriving late or unsigned rather than the tax math, that is a different problem than payroll processing, and it is the one we built for.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Nevada have a state income tax?
No. The prohibition sits in Article 10 of the Nevada Constitution rather than in statute, so changing it would require a constitutional amendment, and every route to one in Nevada ends in a statewide vote. There are no local income taxes either, and consequently no state withholding calculation and no state W-4.
What is the Nevada Modified Business Tax?
A quarterly employer excise tax on wages. General business employers pay 1.17 percent on gross wages after employer-paid health benefit deductions, with the first $50,000 per quarter exempt. Financial institutions and mining businesses pay 1.554 percent from the first dollar. A return is required every quarter even when no tax is due.
What is the Nevada unemployment wage base?
The base is $45,400 per employee from January 1, 2027 ($43,700 through December 31, 2026), reset every year at two thirds of the state average annual wage. New employers pay 2.95 percent and experience-rated employers fall between 0.25 percent and 5.40 percent, plus a 0.05 percent Career Enhancement Program charge unless the employer sits at the 5.4 percent maximum.
Does Nevada allow a tip credit?
No. Tipped employees must receive the full $12.00 minimum wage in cash with tips on top. Ballot Question 2 in November 2022 also eliminated the previous two-tier minimum that varied with health benefit offerings, leaving a single rate regardless of benefits.
What is Nevada daily overtime?
Under NRS 608.018, employees earning less than 1.5 times the minimum wage, meaning under $18.00 per hour in 2026, are owed overtime after 8 hours in a rolling 24-hour workday in addition to the weekly 40-hour trigger. Employees at or above $18.00 per hour follow the federal weekly rule only.
Is workers compensation mandatory in Nevada?
Yes, from the first employee with no small employer exemption. An employer without coverage can be fined up to $15,000 and ordered to close until insurance is obtained, under NRS 616D.200 and NAC 616D.345.
What changed for Nevada employers?
The Department of Taxation resumed quarterly wage comparison on January 1, 2026, cross-referencing Modified Business Tax (MBT) returns against unemployment wage filings and issuing automatic deficiency determinations on mismatches. MBT returns have been filed through the My Nevada Tax portal since December 8, 2025, and the unemployment wage base is $45,400 from January 1, 2027 ($43,700 through December 31, 2026).
How much does payroll software cost for a Nevada small business?
At 5 employees, published October 2026 rates run roughly $62 for Patriot Full Service, $64 for SurePayroll, $65 for Square Payroll, $79 for OnPay or Gusto Simple, and $85 for QuickBooks Workforce Payroll. At 50 employees the same plans land between $287 and $400, excluding unemployment insurance, Modified Business Tax, and workers compensation premiums.
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