Oregon layers a few payroll taxes that catch employers off guard, and the transit district taxes are among the most location-dependent. If any of your work is performed inside the Portland-area TriMet district or the Eugene-area Lane district, you owe an employer payroll tax on those wages. Here is how it works.
This is general information, not tax advice. Confirm current rates with the Oregon Department of Revenue.
Two districts, two rates
The TriMet Transit District covers the Portland metro area; its 2026 employer rate is about 0.82% of wages for work performed within the district. The Lane Transit District covers the Eugene/Springfield area at 0.80% for 2026. Both are employer-paid taxes on the wages, with no employee withholding.
It is based on where the work is done
What makes the transit taxes different is that they are geographic. The tax applies to wages for services performed inside the district boundary — not simply because a business is headquartered in Oregon. A worksite is generally wholly inside or outside a district, so the key question is where your employees actually work.
Not the same as the statewide transit tax
Do not confuse the TriMet/Lane taxes with Oregon’s statewide transit tax, which is a separate 0.1% tax withheld from the employee on all Oregon wages. The district taxes are employer-paid and apply only within their boundaries; the statewide transit tax is employee-paid and applies everywhere in Oregon. An employer in a district deals with both.
How Payrollix handles it
Payrollix applies the correct transit tax based on the employee’s work location, at the current TriMet or Lane rate, and keeps it separate from the statewide transit tax and from unemployment. You set the applicable district for a worksite, and the employer tax is calculated on every run for wages performed there.
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