State employer tax registration

When you hire employees, you must register with your state for two key tax obligations: state income tax withholding and state unemployment insurance (SUI/SUTA) tax. These are separate registrations from your federal EIN and must be completed before your first payroll.

30 steps across 10 sections

1. How to Register

  • Visit your state's Department of Revenue or Taxation website
  • Complete the employer registration form (often combined with SUI registration)
  • Receive a state withholding account number
  • Begin withholding from employee paychecks using the state's withholding tables

2. Key Forms

  • State W-4 equivalent — many states have their own withholding allowance form (e.g., NY IT-2104, CA DE 4)
  • State withholding tables — published annually by each state's tax authority

3. Filing and Payment Schedule

  • Monthly, quarterly, or annual deposits depending on withholding amount
  • States assign frequency based on your total tax liability
  • Electronic filing is required or strongly encouraged in most states

4. Employee Withholding States

  • Alaska
  • New Jersey
  • Pennsylvania

5. How to Register

  • Contact your state's unemployment insurance agency (often the Department of Labor or Workforce Commission)
  • Complete the employer registration (e.g., New York uses Form NYS-100)
  • Receive a SUI account number and your assigned tax rate

6. Experience Rating

  • Low claims history = lower rate (can be as low as 0%)
  • High claims history = higher rate (can exceed 10%)
  • Rates are recalculated annually

7. Filing and Payment

  • Most states require quarterly SUI tax filing
  • Reports include wages paid to each employee during the quarter
  • Electronic filing is increasingly required
  • Due dates are typically the end of the month following the quarter (April 30, July 31, October 31, January 31)

8. Required Information

  • Employee name, address, SSN, date of hire
  • Employer name, address, EIN

9. Purpose

  • Enforces child support orders
  • Reduces unemployment and workers' compensation fraud
  • Required by the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996

10. How to Report

  • Most states accept online reporting through their workforce agency website
  • Can also report by fax, mail, or electronic file upload
  • Multi-state employers can choose to report to one state or report in each state where employees work

Sources

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