Final answer:
To calculate the employer's FUTA tax liability with all credits applied, sum the taxable portion of each employee's wage up to $7,000 and multiply by 0.6%. This gives the employer's total FUTA tax owed for the first quarter after considering FUTA tax credits.
Step-by-step explanation:
The subject of the question is calculating the employer's FUTA tax liability, which involves basic arithmetic and an understanding of current tax law. As the Federal Unemployment Tax Act (FUTA) sets a standard tax rate, the calculation typically starts with this base rate, which is 6% for 2016 on the first $7,000 of each employee's earnings, and employers can receive a credit of up to 5.4% for state unemployment taxes, making the effective federal rate 0.6%.
Given the employee wages were $5,200, $7,800, $2,600, $20,800, $15,600, and $4,420, each amount up to the $7,000 threshold is what's subject to FUTA tax. Therefore, to calculate the FUTA tax liability with all credits applied, add up the taxable portion of each employee's wage, then multiply by 0.6%. For employees who earned more than $7,000, only the first $7,000 of their wages is taxable for FUTA.
For example, for Employee 1 who earned $5,200, the taxable wage is $5,200 (since it's less than $7,000), and the FUTA tax is $5,200 * 0.6% = $31.20. Sum this calculation for all employees, and you'll get the total FUTA tax liability for the employer.