What's covered in this guide?:
What new hire reporting is
Federal law requires every employer to report new and rehired employees to the state where they work, generally within 20 days of their start date. Workforce Payroll handles this filing for you automatically — there is nothing to upload, mail, or click. This article explains what new hire reporting is, when Workforce sends a report, and what employee data needs to be on file for an employee to be included.
New hire reporting is a federal and state requirement that employers report every newly hired or rehired employee to the state where the employee works. Each state runs a New Hire Directory, and the data is forwarded to the federal National Directory of New Hires. The information is used primarily to enforce child support orders and to detect unemployment insurance and workers' compensation fraud.
The standard report includes:
The employee's legal name, home address, Social Security number, and date of hire
The employer's name, address, and Federal Employer Identification Number (FEIN)
Federal law sets the deadline at 20 days after the date of hire; some states require sooner.
How Workforce handles it
Workforce automatically files new hire reports on your behalf as part of your payroll service. You do not need to upload anything, set anything up, or trigger the filing.
When a new hire is included
For an employee to be picked up for new hire reporting, all of the following need to be true:
Their start date is set and falls within the last month.
Their legal first and last name are on file.
Their Social Security number is on file.
Their home address is on file.
They have not already been reported.
If a piece of this information is missing, the employee is skipped and picked up after the data is added — as long as it is added before the lookback window passes. The most common reason an employee is held back is a missing SSN or a missing home address.
There is nothing on the employee's profile labeled "new hire reporting." If their personal info (name, address, SSN, hire date) is complete in Workforce, the report goes out automatically. The same fields are needed to complete the W-4 and to post the employee on a pay run, so in practice an employee who is ready to be paid is also ready to be reported.
Common questions
Do I need to do anything? No. As long as the employee's personal information is complete in Workforce, the report files automatically on the next weekly run.
Do contractors get reported? Federal law requires reporting of W-2 employees. A handful of states also require reporting on independent contractors above a payment threshold; Workforce includes contractors in those states' filings when they have a TIN and the rest of their personal info on file.
Will Workforce confirm the report was sent? Workforce records the filing date against each employee internally. There is not currently a confirmation to customers when the report was sent.
What if my employee starts in one state but lives in another? Reporting follows the state where the employee works, not where they live.
Tip: The simplest way to stay inside the 20-day federal window is to make sure each new hire's name, home address, and SSN are entered in Workforce on or before their first day. Once those fields are filled in, the next weekly run takes care of the rest.