How to Register for Payroll Taxes as a New Employer

To register for payroll taxes, you first get a federal Employer Identification Number (EIN) from the IRS. Then you open your state accounts, usually income tax withholding and unemployment insurance, before or soon after your first paycheck. Deadlines range from 10 to 30 days after you become an employer, depending on the state. We walk you through the order of steps, what each agency asks for and what to do once your account numbers arrive.

This guide is for U.S. small business owners hiring their first employee or adding a new state. U.S. tax rules vary by state, so treat the examples below as a map and confirm details with your own state agency.

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TL;DR

Get your EIN first. Every state application and every federal payroll form asks for it.
Register with your state for unemployment insurance and, where the state taxes income, withholding. Some places add local registrations.
State deadlines differ: examples run from 10 days in Texas to 30 days in Iowa after you become liable.
Registration is only the start. You then deposit federal payroll taxes electronically and file Form 941 each quarter.
We can handle the registrations and ongoing filings, or work alongside your existing CPA.

When you need to register as an employer
Step 1: Get your federal EIN
Step 2: Register with your state
What to have ready before you apply
What happens after you submit
Federal deposits and filings after registration
Common registration mistakes
Our perspective
Let us handle the registrations
FAQ
Sources

When you need to register as an employer

The trigger is usually your first wages, not your first hire date. Each state sets its own threshold and its own deadline, so the same business can have different obligations in two states. A few official examples show how much the rules differ:

State	Who must register	Deadline
California	Employers who pay more than $100 in wages in a calendar quarter (household employers: $750 or more in cash wages)	Within 15 days
Texas	Employers liable under the Texas Unemployment Compensation Act	Within 10 days
Iowa	All employers, with out-of-state employers registering once wages are paid to an employee working in Iowa	Within 30 days after the first wages
North Dakota	Employers who have started employing workers	Within 20 days
Hawaii	Any individual or organization that becomes an employing unit	Within 20 days of hiring

Thresholds can be low. In Montana, an employer becomes a covered employer when annual payroll for the current or preceding calendar year reaches $1,000, or when the business is subject to the federal unemployment tax. Once you qualify in a year, Montana expects you to report all wages for that entire year back to January 1.

The practical rule: do not wait for the deadline. Register before your first payroll run, so your account numbers exist when you need to withhold and report.

Check worker classification first

Registration only applies to employees. Whether someone is an employee or an independent contractor can be hard to decide in some situations, and New Jersey’s Division of Revenue warns that the consequences of getting it wrong can be significant. If you are not sure how a worker should be classified, settle that before you register, not after.

Step 1: Get your federal EIN

The IRS requires a nine-digit EIN before you report employment taxes or give tax statements to employees. IRS Publication 15 for 2026 says you can apply online at IRS.gov/EIN, by faxing or mailing Form SS-4, or by phone if your business is foreign-organized.

The EIN is the thread that ties everything together. It is the number on your federal payroll returns, your tax deposits and the W-2s you issue. State agencies ask for it as well. If your business is not yet formed, sort out the entity first, since the EIN belongs to a specific legal entity. We help with this through our business formation services, and founders who live outside the U.S. can read how to get a U.S. EIN as a nonresident.

Step 2: Register with your state

After the EIN, you open state payroll tax accounts. Employers typically need a state income tax withholding account in states that collect income tax, plus a state unemployment insurance account. Some jurisdictions also require other local tax registrations.

Many states let you do both in one online portal. Others split them between the revenue department and the labor or workforce agency. Search for your state’s name plus the words employer registration, and make sure you land on a .gov address.

Income tax withholding

If your state taxes wages, you withhold from each paycheck and send the money to the state. Some states have no wage income tax, so there may be nothing to register for here. Check your state revenue department’s site before assuming either way.

State unemployment insurance

Unemployment insurance (UI) is paid by the employer. Montana’s handbook states plainly that it is against the law to deduct UI taxes from employees’ wages. California describes UI as a federal and state partnership, and including your federal EIN on the state registration helps ensure your payments are properly credited when you file the federal unemployment return, Form 940.

Local and other registrations

Some cities and counties require their own payroll-related registration, and some states run separate programs such as paid family and medical leave. These are easy to miss because they do not appear on the federal checklist. If you operate in several states, our guide to multi-state payroll rules covers what to sort out on day one.

What to have ready before you apply

Most state applications ask for the same information, so gather it once. According to CPA Practice Advisor, registrations generally require:

Legal business name
EIN
Business address
Entity type
Responsible party information
The date wages will first be paid
Estimated number of employees
NAICS code (the industry classification number)

Two practical tips. First, use the legal name exactly as it appears on your formation documents and your IRS records, because mismatches slow things down. Second, if you do not yet have a business address that suits public records, a professional business address can be used on registrations so your home address is not the one on file.

Some portals let you pause and come back. Texas, for example, saves your progress for up to one year, so you can finish later if you are missing a detail.

What happens after you submit

Online is usually the fastest route. In Texas, the online registration takes about 20 minutes and immediately issues a tax account number if you are liable. A notice follows by mail, typically in about two weeks, though you can file reports and pay taxes in the meantime using the same login.

California issues an eight-digit employer payroll tax account number, which you need to file returns, report wages, submit payments and update the account. Mail-in applications there may take 10 to 14 days to process, and longer for accounts with tax exemptions or special coverage requirements.

New Jersey takes a different route: businesses register through the NJ-REG form, which asks you to identify payroll taxes and wage withholding if you have employees. Failing to register can bring penalties and fees on top of the taxes owed.

When the account numbers arrive, store them in one secure place together with your EIN, login details and the agency contact for each account. Then keep contact information current. Iowa’s handbook, for instance, tells employers to keep their contact details updated and file on time to avoid penalties and interest.

Federal deposits and filings after registration

Once you have an EIN and state accounts, three federal habits matter: deposit on time, file quarterly and keep filing.

How federal deposits are made

The IRS requires federal tax deposits by electronic funds transfer. You can use your IRS business tax account, IRS Direct Pay or EFTPS at no charge. ACH credit, third-party and same-day wire payments may carry fees.

Monthly or semiweekly deposits

There are two deposit schedules, and the IRS says you must determine which one applies before each calendar year begins. The decision rests on a lookback period, the 12 months from July 1 of the second preceding year to June 30 of the prior year.

If you filed only Form 941 and reported $50,000 or less in taxes during the lookback period, you are a monthly depositor and generally deposit by the 15th of the following month.
If you reported more than $50,000, you are a semiweekly depositor. Taxes on wages paid Wednesday through Friday are due the following Wednesday, and taxes on wages paid Saturday through Tuesday are due the following Friday.

A brand-new employer has no lookback history, so the same IRS topic page is the place to confirm how your first year is treated. Keeping clean year-to-date payroll figures per pay period makes it much easier to see where your tax liability stands against these thresholds.

Quarterly returns

Employers who withhold federal income tax, Social Security or Medicare taxes file Form 941 each quarter. Agricultural employers use Form 943, employers notified in writing use Form 944, and Form 945 covers federal income tax withheld from nonpayroll payments.

The fourth-quarter Form 941 is due January 31. If all taxes were deposited on time, the due date extends to February 10. You also keep filing when you pay no wages. Unless you have filed final returns, or you are a seasonal employer filing Form 941, the same publication says you must continue filing even for periods with no wages.

State filing rules sit on top of these. California, for example, requires all employers, including out-of-state employers, to submit returns, wage reports and deposits electronically. Our payroll compliance checklist lays out what to do at each stage, and the year-end payroll checklist helps you prepare for W-2 season.

Common registration mistakes

Most problems we see are simple and avoidable:

Registering late. The first payroll is the real deadline, not the state’s outer limit.
Registering in one state only. An employee working in another state can create an obligation there. Iowa, for example, expects out-of-state employers to register as soon as wages are paid to an employee working in Iowa.
Skipping the local layer. City, county or program-specific registrations are not on the federal forms.
Mixing up account numbers. The EIN, state withholding number and state unemployment number are different. Label them.
Letting the account go quiet. Zero-wage periods still have filing requirements.

When you are choosing a payroll setup, our seven-step small business payroll guide shows where registration fits in the larger process, and our piece on payroll taxes for small businesses explains the deposit risks in more depth.

Our perspective

Registering is the easy part. It takes an afternoon. What trips owners up is everything that follows: deposits on the right schedule, quarterly returns, state notices that arrive by mail, and a second state quietly becoming relevant when one employee moves.

We built KelliWorks as a real team, not an app. We manage the money side, which means we pay the bills, keep the business in good standing and keep payroll filings moving. For tax, we can handle it ourselves or work alongside your existing CPA, whichever fits how you already work.

We price on one flat monthly fee agreed up front, never a percentage of income, so you know what the support costs before you start. Confidentiality is standard practice for us, and we are glad to sign an NDA before we begin.

Kelli

Let us handle the registrations

If you would rather not spend your week on agency portals, we can register your payroll accounts, set up your payroll and keep your filings on track as part of our accounting and payroll services. We also help with business management and compliance, so deadlines, state notices and annual filings do not fall through the cracks.

Our support is priced as one flat monthly fee, agreed before we start. Tell us where you operate and when your first payroll is, and we will map out the registrations you need.

FAQ

Do I register for payroll taxes before or after I hire?

Before your first payroll run is the safest answer. State deadlines are counted from when you become liable, such as 10 days in Texas or 15 days in California. Having your accounts ready means you can withhold correctly from the first paycheck.

Do I need a separate state payroll tax account in every state?

Usually you register in each state where you have employees working, and state rules differ on what triggers the requirement. Employers commonly need a state withholding account and an unemployment insurance account, and some jurisdictions add local registrations. U.S. tax rules vary by state, so confirm with each state agency or ask us.

What if I have no employees working this quarter?

You may still have filing duties. Unless you have filed final returns, or you are a seasonal employer filing Form 941, the IRS says you must keep filing Forms 940 and 941 even for periods when you paid no wages. If you are closing the business or pausing payroll, ask us or your CPA how to handle final filings.

Can you work with my existing CPA?

Yes. We can handle payroll tax registration and ongoing filings ourselves, or work alongside your CPA so each of us covers what fits best. Book a free consultation at kelliworks.com/consultation and we will talk through your setup.