Background

In Washington, both employers and employees are required to contribute to the Paid Family and Medical Leave program. The contributions can vary: for smaller companies, it might only involve an employee deduction, while larger companies may have both an employee deduction and an employer expense.

All employers may either withhold employees' premiums from their paychecks or pay some or all of the premiums on their employees' behalf. Employers cannot collect missed premiums in later pay periods.

The Paid Family and Medical Leave program is funded through these premiums.

For more details, visit the Washington Paid Family and Medical Leave website.

Contribution Rates

Starting Jan. 1, 2026:

• The premium rate will increase to 1.13%.
• Employers will pay 28.57% of the total premium and employees will pay 71.43%.
• The premium is calculated on each employee's gross wages, not including tips, up to the 2026 Social Security cap ($184,500).
• Businesses classified by the Employment Security Department as having fewer than 50 employees for the 2026 calendar year are not required to pay the employer portion of the premium. However, you must still collect the employee premium or pay employees' premiums on their behalf.

Starting Jan. 1, 2025:

• The premium rate will increase to 0.92%.
• Employers will pay 28.48% of the total premium and employees will pay 71.52%.
• The premium is calculated on each employee's gross wages, not including tips, up to the 2025 Social Security cap ($176,100).
• Businesses classified by the Employment Security Department as having fewer than 50 employees for the 2025 calendar year are not required to pay the employer portion of the premium. However, you must still collect the employee premium or pay employees' premiums on their behalf.

AccountEdge Setup

Employee Responsibility

If the Employer is not covering the Employee's share, the Employer must collect the employee's share of the Washington Paid Family Leave premium. This is handled using an Employee Deduction.

Create/Edit Employee Deduction

1. From the Payroll Command Center, click Payroll Categories.
2. Click on the Deductions tab.
3. If the Employee Deduction already exists, click Edit, otherwise click New to create a new deduction. Provide a Deduction name, ie, PFML - WA EE Contrib, select type PFML and enter WA State Code.
4. Type of Deduction, select the second radio button (Equals - Percent of). Enter the contribution rate and select Gross Wages. For an employer with over 50 employees:
   • 2026 rate is 0.80716% of Gross Wages (71.43% of 1.13%).
   • 2025 rate is 0.65798% of Gross Wages (71.52% of 0.92%).
5. In the Deduction Limit, Select the third radio button (Equals - Dollars per ). Enter the limit amount and  Year.
   • 2026 limit amount is $1,489.21 per Year (0.80716% * $184,500).
   • 2025 limit amount is $1,158.71 per Year (0.65798% * $176,100).

Employer Responsibility

If you are required to contribute to the program, this will be handled through an Employer Expense. The PFML - WA Employer Expense is automatically created. The wage limit will be automatically updated, but you must set your PFML rate based on your employee count (refer to the details below).

Set Up Washington PFML Employer Expense

Go to Payroll > Payroll Categories > Expenses

• Select the PFML - WA Employer Expense and click Edit.
• The 2026 Employer PFML Rate is 0.32284% and the Wage Limit is $184,500.00. The 2025 Employer PFML Rate is 0.26202% and the Wage Limit is $176,100.00.
• Enter the appropriate PFML Rate based on the number of employees you have.
  • If you have less than 50 employees enter 0.0%
  • If you have 50 or more employees enter the 2026 PFML rate of 0.32284% of Gross Wages (28.57% of 1.13%). For 2025 the rate was 0.26202% of Gross Wages (28.48% of 0.92%).
• Click the Employee button to add PFML - WA to all Washington Employees.