State tax registration
State tax registration opens your accounts with a state’s tax agencies before payroll runs there, normally a withholding account and a separate unemployment account.
Registration by state
What to register in each state before the first payroll, with agencies, portals and deadlines:
You normally open the withholding account with the revenue department and the unemployment account with the labor agency. Registration returns an account number, a filing and deposit frequency, and for unemployment an assigned rate. Payroll generally needs them before the first pay date; some states allow the unemployment account until liability or the first report. Registration is generally triggered by an employee performing work in the state. A first remote hire outside your home state is the most frequent trigger. Some jurisdictions add local accounts on top of both.
Which registrations does payroll need?
Lead times run from same-day online issuance to several weeks. Start the registration when the offer is accepted, not at the first timesheetTimesheet. A timesheet is your record of an employee’s hours and time events for a pay period, reviewed and approved before it feeds payroll.Click to open the term. You can pay an employee before an account number issues, but you generally cannot file the deposit and the return without one. The liability accrues while registration is pending. Tax service is not active until the required authorizations and setup are complete. Foreign qualification registers a corporation or LLC formed elsewhere to do business in the state; New Jersey requires it before Form NJ-REG, its tax registration.
| REGISTRATION | AGENCY | WHAT IT MEANS FOR PAYROLL |
|---|---|---|
| Withholding account | Revenue department | Generally required where an employee works; some states also require one where an employee merely resides |
| Unemployment account | Labor agency | Still required in the work state under a reciprocity agreement, and in states without a wage income tax |
| Corporate registration | Secretary of state | Separate: a company can be legally formed yet unable to run payroll there |
- New Jersey Division of Revenue and Enterprise Services, Getting Registered
- U.S. Department of Labor, UIPL 20-04: Localization of Work Provisions, Principles for Determining Where Wages Should Be Reported
General information, not legal or tax advice. Apply current federal and state rules with qualified guidance.