Utah Unemployment Benefits Calculator
Utah reads your best quarter the old-fashioned way: divide it by 26, subtract $5, and that is the week — until the schedule’s printed brackets take over on the way to $806. Enter the highest quarter below to price the check, add the base-period total for the $5,500 and 1.5× gates, and any part-time wages for the 30% disregard preview.
Cell Nº 1 · The calculator
Price the week: one quarter drives the whole claim
The highest quarter sets the rate, the base-period total opens the gates, and the part-time line previews the 30% disregard. The hive applies the divide-by-26-minus-$5 formula, the $574 table handoff, the $806 cap, the $5,500 and 1.5× monetary tests, the 27% duration rule, and the 40-hour stop — in the order the schedule itself uses.
Estimates mirror the published schedule, not the department’s own computation. The monetary determination DWS mails after you file is the number that pays.
Cell Nº 2 · The formula
Divide by 26, subtract $5 — the cleanest formula on the site
Utah’s weekly benefit starts from the highest-paid quarter of your base period. The computation the department publishes is as plain as it gets: highest quarter ÷ 26, then subtract $5.00. A high quarter of $13,000 divides to $500; the subtraction lands the week at exactly $495. The result floors out at $31 for the thinnest qualifying histories.
The $5 haircut is Utah’s signature quirk — a flat administrative shave applied to every formula-rate check regardless of size. It barely registers at the top, where a $500 week shrinks by one percent. At the bottom it compounds with the minimum: a $1,000 high quarter divides to $38.46, drops to $33.46 after the subtraction, and survives only because the $31 floor sits just beneath it. No other state on this site subtracts a flat dollar amount from its core formula.
Because the check hangs on one quarter, timing matters: a January bonus or a final paycheck that lands inside the base window lifts the weekly rate permanently, while the same dollar earned a quarter later does nothing for this claim. Every extra $260 of highest-quarter wages adds $10 a week to the check.
| Highest quarter | ÷ 26, − $5 | Weekly check |
|---|---|---|
| $5,200 | $200.00 − $5.00 | $195 |
| $9,360 | $360.00 − $5.00 | $355 |
| $13,000 | $500.00 − $5.00 | $495 |
| $15,054 | $579.00 − $5.00 | $574 — table takes over |
| $21,086 and above | bracket ceiling | $806 (schedule cap) |
Cell Nº 3 · The brackets
The $574 handoff — where a printed table replaces arithmetic
Most formula states let the arithmetic run to the cap. Utah does something rarer: from a high quarter of $15,054 upward, the weekly rate stops coming from the formula and starts coming from the January 2026 Benefit Schedule’s printed brackets — two columns of high-quarter ranges and weekly amounts, running in $26-wide steps from $574 at the entry bracket to $806 at the top, where every high quarter of $21,086 and above pays the same maximum.
The practical consequences run both directions. Beneath the handoff, the formula responds to every dollar — earn $260 more in your best quarter and the week rises $10. Above it, the brackets flatten the curve: a high quarter of $16,000 and one of $16,026 can land in different brackets while $18,900 and $19,100 can share one. And the schedule carries a second ceiling most claimants never see: the maximum benefit amount of $20,956 — the most a 2026 Utah claim can pay in total, which is exactly 26 weeks at the $806 rate.
A $28,000 high quarter and a $60,000 one pay the identical $806. The excess still feeds the 1.5× gate and the 27% duration pot, so capped claimants typically draw the longest calendar — 26 weeks — rather than a larger check.
A high quarter of $936 computes to $31 after the subtraction — the published minimum. Below roughly $5,200 in the quarter the formula would fall under $195, but the $5,500 base-period gate usually closes those claims first.
Cell Nº 4 · The gates
Three numbers to clear: $5,500, 1.5×, and two quarters
Utah’s monetary gate is the highest-dollar minimum among its neighbors. The base period must contain at least $5,500 in total wages — the department’s eligibility page states it flat — and the total must reach one and one-half times the highest quarter. The 1.5× test is the anti-spikiness check: your three smaller quarters combined must cover at least half your best one, which screens out claims built almost entirely from a single hot quarter.
The third requirement is structural: wages paid in at least two of the four base quarters. Self-employment wages never count — only covered employment feeds the claim. If the standard window fails any prong, the department automatically reprices the claim on the alternate base period — the most recent four completed calendar quarters — before denying, so a worker whose best months are the most recent ones gets a second look without filing anything extra.
| Wage shape (total / HQ) | $5,500 test | 1.5× test | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| $42,800 / $12,400 | pass | pass ($42,800 ≥ $18,600) | qualifies — $471/week |
| $6,100 / $5,400 | pass | fail ($6,100 < $8,100) | alternate base period next |
| $5,800 / $3,600 | pass | pass ($5,800 ≥ $5,400) | qualifies — $133/week |
| $4,900 / $4,700 | fail | n/a | does not qualify |
The benefit year runs 52 weeks from the Sunday of the week you file. A second claim inside that year needs post-claim wages of its own before Utah will price a new pot.
Cell Nº 5 · The duration
The 27% rule — how Utah counts your weeks
Utah does not simply hand every claimant 26 weeks. The department’s own computation multiplies total base-period wages by 27%, divides that pot by your weekly benefit, and the result — minimum 10 weeks, maximum 26 — is the number of weeks on the determination letter. It is a two-variable rule: a large wage history pays long, but a high weekly rate against a modest history shortens the draw, because each week consumes more of the 27% pot.
Work the extremes. A capped claimant with a $90,000 base year holds a 27% pot of $24,300 against an $806 check — 30 potential weeks, clipped to the 26-week maximum, so the cap side always runs the full calendar. At the other end, a $12,000 history with a $457 check holds a $3,240 pot — barely seven weeks of arithmetic, lifted to the 10-week statutory minimum. In between, the draw slides: the 24-week worked example below sits nearly at the top of the range.
| Base-period total | 27% pot | Weekly benefit | Weeks payable |
|---|---|---|---|
| $12,000 | $3,240 | $457 | 10 weeks — statutory minimum |
| $24,000 | $6,480 | $366 | 17 weeks |
| $42,800 | $11,556 | $471 | 24 weeks |
| $90,000 | $24,300 | $806 (capped) | 26 weeks — maximum |
Fractions drop at every step — 27% is computed to the dollar, the division to the whole week — and unused pot dollars expire with the benefit year.
Cell Nº 6 · The window
Which quarters count — and the calendar the schedule prints
The base period is the first four of the last five completed calendar quarters before your claim takes effect. The January 2026 schedule prints the whole year’s map: a claim effective January through March reads wages from October 1, 2024 through September 30, 2025; April through June claims read January through December 2025; July through September claims read April 2025 through March 2026; and October through December claims read July 2025 through June 2026. Because the claim takes effect on the Sunday of the week you file, filing one week later can move a December payday inside the window.
That timing lever is worth real money on a highest-quarter formula. A bonus, a severance component classified as wages, or a final stretch of overtime that lands inside the window raises the weekly check for the entire benefit year; the same dollars arriving one quarter later do nothing for this claim. If the standard window leaves you short of any prong, the alternate base period — the most recent four completed quarters — reprices the claim automatically, and retirement income is deductible only if a base-period employer contributed to the plan.
Cell Nº 7 · Worked example
Cody in Lehi — a full claim, worked line by line
Cody kept the data-center floor running for a Lehi colocation firm until the June restructuring. His wage history is classic Silicon Slopes: steady covered work, one standout quarter when a migration project paid heavy overtime. Here is the whole claim as DWS will compute it.
Cody files in September 2026, so his claim is effective in the July–September row of the schedule’s map: the base period runs April 1, 2025 through March 31, 2026. His quarters inside it: $9,800 (Apr–Jun), $12,400 (Jul–Sep), $11,900 (Oct–Dec), $8,700 (Jan–Mar) — a $42,800 total with a $12,400 high quarter.
$12,400 ÷ 26 is $476.92; the $5 subtraction lands at $471.92, rounded down to $471. The rate sits below the $574 table handoff, so the formula priced it directly — no bracket lookup needed.
$42,800 clears the $5,500 minimum easily, beats 1.5 × $12,400 = $18,600, and spreads across all four quarters. The alternate base period never comes into play. Every monetary gate opens.
27% of $42,800 is $11,556. Divided by the $471 check: 24.5, rounded down to 24 paid weeks — a $11,304 total claim, well inside the $20,956 schedule ceiling and one week short of the 26 maximum.
Week one is the non-payable waiting week — filed, work-searched, unpaid. Weeks two through twenty-five pay $471 with adjustments: a week at $200 in contract wages pays $412 (the first $141.30 is free, the rest comes off dollar for dollar); a week over $471 — or one where he clocked 40 hours — pays nothing.
$471 a week × 24 weeks = $11,304 over 25 calendar weeks, waiting week included. Elect both withholdings — 10% federal and 5% state — and $1,695.60 sets itself aside across the claim, about $70.65 a week against the April bill.
Cell Nº 8 · The hold
The waiting week: filed, searched, unpaid
Utah’s first eligible week is a non-payable waiting week — the department’s FAQ states it in the payment-timing answer without ceremony. Two details make it behave differently from a skipped week. First, it must actually be filed: the weekly-claim rhythm starts at week one even though nothing pays, and payment for later weeks arrives within two business days of each filed weekly claim. Second, the four-contact work-search requirement applies during it — the FAQ notes the contacts include the waiting week, so the search log starts on day one.
The week is served once per benefit year, not once per job loss — return to work, come back on the same claim within the 52 weeks, and no new waiting week waits. It is not repaid at the end the way some states convert it. On Cody’s $471 claim the week costs exactly one check: the claim pays 24 times and sits idle once, and the schedule’s 27% pot does not grow to cover it.
Cell Nº 9 · Working while claimed
Part-time work and the 30% disregard — plus the 40-hour stop
Utah’s partial rule has two dials. The earnings dial: report gross wages for the week the work happened, not the week the deposit lands, and the first 30% of your weekly benefit is free — a $471 check ignores $141.30 of wages. Past that line the deduction runs dollar for dollar. At or above the benefit itself, the week pays nothing.
The hours dial is the one out-of-staters miss: working 40 or more hours in the week disqualifies that week entirely, even if the wages stayed under the benefit. A server picking up one full-schedule week between part-time gigs can zero out a check despite modest pay. The two dials run together — clear both and the week pays; trip either and it does not. Holiday pay, vacation pay, sick pay, tips, commissions, and paid training all count as earnings, and payments from an employer-funded retirement plan reduce the check dollar for dollar.
| Week’s gross wages ($471 benefit, $141.30 free) | Hours that week | Check for the week |
|---|---|---|
| $140 | under 40 | $471 — full check |
| $200 | under 40 | $412 |
| $350 | under 40 | $262 |
| $200 | 40 or more | $0 — the hour rule trips |
| $471 or more | any | $0 — keep claiming if part-time |
Cell Nº 10 · Staying qualified
Four new contacts a week — and Utah’s no-repeat rule
Utah requires at least four new work contacts for full-time work every week you claim — and the department’s FAQ is unusually specific about the word new: these contacts must be with employers not previously contacted. Cycling the same three job boards or re-emailing the same recruiter does not build a qualifying week. Contacts can happen in person, by telephone, online, or by resume — faxed or emailed — but each week’s four must land on fresh employers.
The paperwork carries the claim. Utah requires a written record of every work-search effort and may request it at any time — the FAQ says the department can deny benefits for any week the four contacts are missing, and evaluates the overall good-faith effort before deciding. The search must be for full-time work in the United States, and you must remain able and available for it; school attendance that blocks full-time availability can pull the eligibility rug. A week that survives an audit looks like this: four dated entries, four different employers, four channels noted, results recorded.
Mon — applied to a posted facilities-tech role in Draper (contact 1). Tue — phoned a Sandy warehouse about an opening (2). Wed — submitted a resume to a Lehi startup posting (3). Thu — walked into a Murray staffing office (4). Four employers, none repeated from prior weeks, all logged the day they happened.
Cell Nº 11 · Opening the claim
Filing: online only, 30 minutes, seven days a week
Utah closed every other door: new claims are filed online only, through the claim-filing site on jobs.utah.gov, which opens at 2:00 a.m. and closes at 11:45 p.m. seven days a week. The department pegs the intake at about 30 minutes. Bring the standard kit — Social Security number, a valid driver license or state ID, alien registration if applicable, and two years of employer details: business names, complete addresses with ZIP codes, phone numbers, start and end dates, gross earnings, and the reason each job ended. A DD214 Member 4 goes in the pile if military service touched the last two years.
Payments move fast by Utah standards: an eligible week pays within two business days of the weekly claim, by direct deposit or the Utah Debit Card — paper checks no longer exist. The debit card comes from U.S. Bank and stays valid for three years across new claims (replacements can carry a fee; the card line is 1-855-279-1274). Two housekeeping rules protect the money: file the weekly claim on time — a claim goes quiet after 27 days without a weekly filing — and keep the address current, registering with the local workforce agency within three business days if you move out of state while continuing to file against Utah.
jobs.utah.gov/ui/home — new claims 2:00 a.m.–11:45 p.m. daily, weekly claims, correspondence.
801-526-4400 (Salt Lake/South Davis) or 1-866-435-7414 toll-free — questions, not filing.
801-526-9300 / 877-800-0671 — initial appeals within 15 days; online filing available.
Cell Nº 12 · How claims are lost
Quits, discharges, and the four-week silence rule
Utah pays people who are unemployed through no fault of their own — the FAQ’s phrase — and every separation gets a fact-finding pass: a department representative takes information from both the claimant and the employer before any determination. A voluntary quit needs good cause connected to the work; a discharge turns on whether the conduct rose to misconduct connected with the job rather than ordinary inability or fit. The determination letter either side receives carries the 15-day appeal window covered below.
Claims also die quietly. Utah’s FAQ lists the two silences that close a claim: four consecutive weeks of earnings at or above the weekly benefit, or no weekly claim filed within 27 days of the last one. A closed claim is not a dead one — reopening is a filing action, not a new claim — but weeks do not pay retroactively across the gap, so the cheapest habit in the Utah system is simply never skipping a week you meant to claim. Separations that usually survive review: layoffs for lack of work, hour reductions, quits with documented good cause, discharges for fit without willful misconduct. The pattern that usually fails: policy violations after warnings, attendance collapse without mitigation, quits over grievances the employer could have fixed.
Cell Nº 13 · Disputing a decision
Fifteen days, thirty days, ten business days: the Utah clocks
Utah’s appeal structure is a three-clock system, and the first clock is fast: an initial appeal is due within 15 days of the date on the Department’s decision — filed online, or in writing by mail or fax to the Appeals Unit (PO Box 45244, Salt Lake City, 84145-0244; fax 801-526-9242; phones 801-526-9300 and toll-free 877-800-0671). A late appeal lives or dies on good cause. The written appeal must name the filer, give a current mailing address and the claimant’s Social Security number, state why the appeal is filed, and carry a signature.
The Appeals Unit hears initial appeals. Hearings are recorded, testimony runs under oath, and you may bring representation and witnesses. The ALJ is not bound to the Department’s original call: the written decision may affirm, reverse, modify — or send the whole matter back for more fact-finding.
Three governor-appointed members review the ALJ record — no new hearing, no new evidence — and decide whether the judge got it right. The Board’s written decision is the next rung, and its 30-day fuse runs from the ALJ decision date.
Missed the hearing itself? A request to reopen goes in within ten business days with an excusable reason — after 30 days, good cause for the delay is required. Beyond the Board, judicial review through the courts exists but is rare; most Utah claims end at rung two.
Keep filing the weekly claim while any appeal runs — a reversal pays the preserved weeks, and a lapsed claim cannot be back-filled.
Cell Nº 14 · Money that must go back
Overpayments — and Utah’s double-repayment fraud penalty
An overpayment is any benefit the rules did not allow: the unreported contract week, the vacation payout disclosed late, the earnings reported for the wrong week. Utah pursues repayment of the amount itself for honest error. What gives the state’s warnings teeth is the FAQ’s fraud paragraph: knowingly or carelessly reporting incorrect information can be treated as fraud, and fraud penalties include repaying twice the amount overpaid, losing future benefits, fines, and possible prosecution. The multiplier is the part worth remembering — a $942 carelessness can cost $1,884.
The defensive checklist is short and entirely in the claimant’s hands. Report gross earnings for the week the work was performed. Count tips, commissions, piece rate, holiday and vacation pay, sick pay, paid training, self-employment income, and military reserve wages — the FAQ’s list is explicit. Answer the weekly questions accurately even when the honest answer pauses the check, because identity verification is mandatory in Utah: benefits cannot pay until the public-records check clears, and a failed check means two forms of government ID to the department by fax or mail before anything moves.
| Finding | What follows | The posture |
|---|---|---|
| Honest overpayment | repay the amount; repayment arrangements | administrative — no penalty multiplier |
| Fraud finding | repay TWICE the overpayment + loss of future benefits + fines + possible prosecution | punitive — the 2× rule Utah prints in its FAQ |
Cell Nº 15 · April comes for both
Taxes: the 1099-G, and Utah’s 10% / 5% election pair
Benefits are taxable at both layers — the IRS counts every dollar on Form 1099-G, and Utah taxes benefits as ordinary income on the state return. What Utah offers is a rare double withholding election: 10% held for federal tax and 5% held for state tax, either one, neither, or both, elected on the claim. Most states that withhold at all stop at the federal 10%; Utah’s 5% state election lets claimants pre-fund the state bill the same way.
Run Cody’s claim as the example: $11,304 of benefits across 24 paid weeks. The 10% federal election sets aside $1,130.40; stacking the 5% state election lifts the total to $1,695.60 — about $70.65 a week — which covers both April bills at the source. Decline both and April arrives unfunded on a reduced income. Retirement income has its own rule worth restating: only pension or disability pay maintained or contributed to by a base-period employer reduces the weekly check, per the schedule’s deduction note.
1099-G for the full year · 10% withholding election · taxed as ordinary income alongside any wages earned during the claim year.
Utah taxes UI as ordinary income · the 5% state election stacks with the federal one · about $23.55 a week held on a $471 check when both run.
Cell Nº 16 · The backdrop
Utah’s labor market, September 2026
Utah’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate stood at 3.6% through July 2026, with the state’s job count near 1,790,300 and roughly 66,200 Utahns between jobs in the June read — a tight market by national standards, where claimants outnumber openings in few states. The through-line industries shape who files: software and data centers along the Silicon Slopes from Lehi to St. George, warehouse and logistics clusters around Salt Lake City and Tooele, ski and tourism economies along the Wasatch Back that shed workers every April, and a construction sector that swings with the state’s growth cycle.
The employer side funds the pot the schedule drinks from. Payroll guidance puts Utah’s 2026 taxable wage base at $50,700 per worker — among the higher bases in the country — with experience-rated contributions running from a fraction of a percent into the single digits and new employers near 1.2%. One negative worth stating plainly: Utah’s FAQ answers the extended-benefits question with a bare “No” — when the regular claim ends, the state offers no EB program on top, so the 10-to-26-week draw is genuinely the whole envelope.
Training has a narrow door: school attendance that limits full-time availability can cost eligibility, and department-required workshops do not count as school on the weekly claim. Full-time Approved Training exceptions are handled case by case through Workforce Services rather than by a self-serve election.
Cell Nº 17 · Avoid these
Seven mistakes that cost Utah claimants real money
Utah wants four NEW contacts — employers not previously contacted. A week of recycled applications can be denied outright when the log is reviewed.
The hour rule trips independently of pay. Forty hours means zero for the week even at low wages — schedule around it or do not claim that week.
Gross wages, in the week the work happened. Net reporting is the classic overpayment factory, and carelessness can be re-labeled fraud with the 2× penalty attached.
No weekly claim for 27 days closes the account. Reopening is possible, but the dark weeks never pay — claim first, ask questions after.
Utah’s initial clock is shorter than most. The mail date starts it, the Board gives no second chance at the ALJ record without good cause, and preserved weeks are the prize.
The unpaid first week still needs to be filed and searched. Skipping it does not skip the wait — it just delays every week behind it.
10% federal and 5% state are elected on the claim. On an $11,304 draw that is $1,695 pre-funded — or two April bills with no funding set aside.
Cell Nº 18 · Context
Utah against the typical state
| Feature | Utah, 2026 | The typical state |
|---|---|---|
| Weekly formula | highest quarter ÷ 26, minus $5 — then the printed brackets | high-quarter fractions from 1/25 to 1/26, no subtraction |
| 2026 weekly range | $31 floor to $806 schedule cap | about $235 to $1,033 across all states |
| Monetary gates | $5,500 total + 1.5× HQ + wages in 2 quarters | one or two tests, minimums usually under $5,000 |
| Duration | 27% of base wages ÷ weekly rate — 10 to 26 weeks | a flat 12–30 weeks, or lesser-of pot rules |
| Waiting week | yes — filed and searched, unpaid, once per year | roughly half the states hold one |
| Partial rule | 30% disregard, dollar-for-dollar above — plus a 40-hour stop | disregards vary; few states add an hour ceiling |
| Work search | 4 new employer contacts weekly — no repeats allowed | 2–5 contacts weekly, repeats often allowed |
| Appeal deadline | 15 days initial, 30 days to the Board | 10, 21 or 30 days depending on the state |
| Withholding | 10% federal AND 5% state elections | mostly federal-only, some states exempt UI |
| Extended benefits | none — the FAQ answers with a bare "No" | EB triggers exist in most state statutes |
In one sentence: Utah runs a lean, formula-clean system — a simple quarter-driven check with a table on top, a duration rule that pays long histories rather than everyone equally, and paperwork discipline (new contacts, gross wages, on-time weekly claims) that the state enforces with a two-times fraud multiplier.
Cell Nº 19 · Questions
Utah unemployment FAQ
How much unemployment will I get in Utah?+
Utah seeds the check from your single best quarter: divide the highest-quarter wages by 26 and subtract $5. A high quarter of $13,000 computes to exactly $495 a week. Once that arithmetic would pay $574 or more, the department switches to its published bracket table, which tops out at $806 a week for high quarters of $21,086 and above on the January 2026 schedule.
Why does Utah subtract $5 from the formula?+
The $5 haircut is written into Utah’s benefit computation and has survived every schedule revision — it quietly funds the administrative side of the program and trims every formula-rate check. It matters most at the bottom: a high quarter of $1,000 would otherwise pay $38.46, and the subtraction drops it to $33.46 before the $31 minimum catches the smallest claims.
What is the bracket table, and when does it replace the formula?+
The January 2026 Benefit Schedule lists two columns: the highest quarter in $26-wide brackets and the weekly benefit each bracket pays. Below $15,054 in the high quarter, the divide-by-26-minus-$5 formula prices the week directly. From $15,054 upward the table takes over — $574 at the entry bracket, rising one dollar per bracket, to $806 for $21,086 and above. The table exists because the statute rounds to whole dollars in bands rather than to the penny.
How long do Utah unemployment benefits last?+
Utah runs its own duration formula: multiply total base-period wages by 27%, divide by your weekly benefit, and the result — minimum 10 weeks, maximum 26 — is your draw. On a $42,800 base year with a $471 check, 27% is $11,556, which buys 24 full weeks. Claimants near the $806 cap get 26; claimants whose 27% pot thins out against a high weekly rate land closer to the 10-week floor.
What are Utah’s monetary eligibility rules?+
Three numbers must clear. You need at least $5,500 in total base-period wages, wages paid in at least two of the four base quarters, and a base-period total equal to at least one and one-half times your highest quarter — the anti-spikiness test that checks whether your three smaller quarters combined cover half your best one. Fail the standard window and Utah automatically tries the alternate base period: the most recent four completed quarters.
Does Utah have a waiting week?+
Yes. The first eligible week of every new claim is a non-payable waiting week, and it must be filed like any other week — the work-search requirement of four new employer contacts applies during it. The week is served once per benefit year, not once per job loss, and it is not repaid at the back end. On a full-rate claim it costs the largest weekly check in the pot.
How does Utah handle part-time earnings?+
You can earn up to 30% of your weekly benefit and keep the entire check. Past that line the deduction is dollar for dollar: a $471 benefit ignores the first $141.30, so a week at $200 pays about $412. Two hard stops end the week — gross earnings at or above the weekly benefit, or 40 or more hours worked, either of which closes the week to payment even if wages stayed lower.
Does Utah tax unemployment benefits?+
The IRS counts every dollar on Form 1099-G, and Utah taxes benefits as ordinary income on the state return too. What Utah offers that many states do not is dual withholding elections: 10% held back for federal tax and 5% for state tax, either or both, chosen on the claim. On a $471 check the combined elections set aside about $70.65 a week — $1,695 across the 24-week worked example on this page.
How do I file for unemployment in Utah?+
Online only. The claim-filing site at jobs.utah.gov runs from 2:00 a.m. to 11:45 p.m. seven days a week, and the intake takes about 30 minutes — employer names, addresses, dates, and wages for the last two years, plus your ID. There is no paper path and no phone filing: the Claims Center at 801-526-4400 (toll-free 1-866-435-7414) answers questions but does not open claims.
What happens if I miss the appeal deadline in Utah?+
The initial appeal is due within 15 days of the date on the Department’s decision — file online, by mail, or by fax to the Appeals Unit at 801-526-9300. Lose at the administrative law judge level and the next window is 30 days to the Workforce Appeals Board. A missed hearing can be reopened within 10 business days with an excusable reason. File the weekly claim while any appeal runs; a reversal pays the preserved weeks.
Cell Nº 20 · Paper trail
Sources & verification
Every figure on this page was checked against primary sources in September 2026. This site is not affiliated with the Utah Department of Workforce Services; the calculator mirrors the published schedule rather than replacing the department’s own determination.
- 1.DWS Unemployment Insurance Benefit Schedule, January 2026 (form 04-13-0126) — $806 max WBA, $20,956 MBA, the $574 bracket table, base-period map, retirement deduction — jobs.utah.gov/ui/UIShared/PDFs/BenefitCalculation.pdf
- 2.DWS Unemployment Insurance FAQ — divide-by-26-minus-$5 computation, $5,500 + 1.5× gate, 27% / 10–26 week rule, waiting week, 30% disregard and 40-hour rule, 4 new contacts, "No" extended benefits, 10%/5% withholding, fraud penalties — jobs.utah.gov/ui/FAQ.html
- 3.DWS — Am I Eligible (monetary requirements, alternate base period) — jobs.utah.gov/ui/home/home/uieligible
- 4.DWS Claimant Guide — weekly claims, work search, correspondence — jobs.utah.gov/ui/jobseeker/claimguide.html
- 5.DWS Appeals — File UI Appeal (15-day initial window, 30-day Board window, 10-business-day reopen, Appeals Unit contacts) — jobs.utah.gov/appeals/filing.html
- 6.DWS Appeals Overview — Division of Adjudication and Appeals, ALJ hearings, Workforce Appeals Board — jobs.utah.gov/appeals/index.html
- 7.DWS Unemployment Insurance home — filing site hours, Claims Center, payment methods — jobs.utah.gov/ui/
- 8.Utah Code Title 35A, Chapter 3 — Unemployment Insurance benefit provisions — le.utah.gov/xcode/Title35A/Chapter3/35A-3-S305.html
- 9.Nolo — Collecting Unemployment Benefits in Utah — nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/collecting-unemployment-benefi
- 10.IRS — Topic 418: Unemployment compensation (federal taxation, 1099-G) — irs.gov/taxtopics/tc418
- 11.BLS / DWS — Utah employment summary (3.6% July 2026; 1,790,300 jobs) — bls.gov/regions/mountain-plateau/utah.htm
- 12.DWS Employment Summary — June 2026 state labor-market read — jobs.utah.gov/notice/employmentSummary.html
- 13.U.S. DOL — State minimum wage laws (Utah $7.25) — dol.gov/agencies/whd/minimum-wage/state
- 14.CBPP — How Many Weeks of Unemployment Compensation Are Available — cbpp.org/research/economy/how-many-weeks-of-unemployment-c
- 15.CareerOneStop — Utah unemployment benefits directory — careeronestop.org/
Keep reading while the claim runs
These guides from our own desk cover the steps Utah shares with every state — base periods, first-check timing, and the appeal playbook.
Utah’s neighboring calculators
Five states touch Utah’s lines and none prices a claim the same way — Idaho’s ratio table, Wyoming’s quarter math, Colorado’s wage-replacement bands, Arizona’s flat 4% rule, Nevada’s 1/25 formula. Cross-border workers from the Uinta Basin to the Arizona Strip often qualify from combined wages, and the all-states index covers the rest.
The homepage calculator prices every state’s weekly range side by side, and each state’s dedicated page carries its own verified rules.
Open the national calculator