A new person shows up twice on a careful budget. The first line is the recurring employer cost of the role: wages, employer FICA, and the unemployment tax and benefits you include every year. The second line is the money you spend once: a posting, a desk, a course, a move. Mixing those lines makes year two look more expensive than it is, or year one look cheaper than the checks you will write.
Recurring cost uses the same model as the other tools
On $52,000 of salary, with a 0.6% FUTA entry on the first $7,000 and a 2% SUTA entry, the recurring employer cost is $57,060.00. That figure is the same math as the cost of one employee calculator. Employer Social Security and Medicare still follow Publication 15 for 2026. If the salary is above $184,500, employer Social Security still stops at the wage base.
One-off fields stay optional
The new-hire tool has four setup fields: recruiting, equipment, training, and relocation. An empty field is $0.00. There is no hidden onboarding package. If you type $2,500, $1,200, and $800, and you leave relocation blank, the one-off total is $4,500.00. Added to $57,060.00, the first-year total is $61,560.00.
A sign-on amount paid as wages belongs in the salary (or bonus) figure so it can enter the FICA base in this model. A sign-on amount you treat as a one-time check can sit in training or recruiting if that matches how you book it. The calculator will not decide the accounting treatment.
What year two should drop
If the person stays, the posting fee and the laptop invoice should not still inflate the burden rate. Use the recurring line for year two, or open the burden-rate tool on wages and extras only. The first-year page exists so that conversation has two labeled totals instead of one blended number.
The page still does not include equity, a full benefits cafeteria, or a legal opinion on classification. Those limits are the same as the rest of the lab. For the product boundary, see Why this is not a payroll service.