When you hire a new employee, it is important to complete all required payroll forms. These forms include the Indiana New Hire Reporting Form, W-4, WH-4, and the I-9 form.
Indiana New Hire Reporting Form
New hire reporting was created in 1996 to improve the child support income withholding process. All employers are required to report new hires, rehires, re-called employees, and temporary employees within 20 days of hire to the Department of Workforce Development. Indiana offers various electronic and non-electronic submission options. A PDF form for submitting the required information is available on our website or AccuPay can complete the reporting requirements for you.
W-4 Employee’s Withholding Allowance Certificate
The W-4 form is used to determine the correct amount of federal income tax withholding to deduct from the employee’s payroll. This form should be completed by the employee when they are hired and anytime their financial situation changes.The W-4 form for 2018 was recently revised by the IRS, in an attempt to make the 2018 W-4 more consistent with changes in the federal tax law which became effective January of 2018. Our recent PayDay’s about the new W-4’s warn employees that the 2018 W-4’s are not consistent with the new tax law, since the 2018 W-4 still includes the concept of “exemptions/allowances,” which have zero tax savings value effective January of 2018. Our PayDay’s provide some options to employees, to include the IRS Withholding Tax calculator, to withhold reasonably accurate tax amounts even though the 2018 W-4 forms are poorly designed and also complex to complete. Employers are encouraged to ask their employees to complete the new 2018 W-4 forms, but are not required to do so. The IRS has already released a “draft” 2019 W-4 form, which includes 10 pages of confusing instructions to complete. PLEASE READ OUR PREVIOUS PAYDAY EMAILS ABOUT THE NEW W-4 AND 2018 TAX TABLE AND W-4 CHANGES .
WH-4 Employee’s Indiana Withholding Exemption and County Status Certificate
The WH-4 form is used to determine the correct amount of Indiana state and county tax to withhold from the employee’s payroll. This form should be completed by the employee when they are hired and when the number of exemptions they are entitled to claim changes. This form also provides the option to have an additional flat dollar amount of state tax withheld from each payroll. It is very important that the employee complete his/her counties of residence and primary place of employment for January 1 of every year since those counties control the employee’s county tax rates for the entire year.
Non-Indiana States/Local Taxing Jurisdictions
Virtually all states have their own state tax withholding forms which employees should complete to ensure accurate state tax withholding. FOR ACCUPAY CLIENTS WHO HAVE EMPLOYEES OUTSIDE INDIANA——Please let us know ASAP if you hire an employee with a tax jurisdiction you have not already registered in, such as a new state or a new local taxing jurisdiction (Ohio, PA and KY have tons of local tax jurisdictions). IDEALLY, you should be registered for state income and state unemployment taxes prior to hiring employees in new tax jurisdictions. AccuPay will help you determine the correct taxing jurisdictions based on the employee’s home address and the primary work address of the new employee—send those addresses to us promptly!!
I-9 Employment Eligibility Verification
The I-9 form is used to verify an individual is eligible to work in the United States. The form should be completed no later than the time of hire for both citizens and noncitizens. An employer must sign/date Form I-9 affirming they have examined original documents which authorize a person to work in the US. The completed form should be kept on file by the employer and it is subject to inspection by authorized government officials. A Spanish version of the I-9 form is also available, but the form must be completed in English to meet necessary requirements.
Work Opportunity Tax Credits
Many for-profit employers can obtain substantial Federal tax credits for hiring lower wage people who are on some type of public assistance. IRS Form 8850 must be signed by the employee by his/her hire date to be eligible for the WOTC Federal Tax Credit. A sample cover letter and applicable forms are available on our website under WOTC Tax Credit Forms.
Direct Deposit – Employee Agreement
Every employee who wants AccuPay to direct deposit their payroll check should complete this form and fax it back to AccuPay at 317-885-7591, along with copies of the employee’s voided checks so we can obtain bank account information.
ACA Notices
Employers of all sizes are required to provide new employees with “ACA notices” about the terms of any employer – sponsored group health insurance. The Department of Labor has 2 “model notices” which employers can use to fulfill this new employee notification requirement:
ACA notice – Employer has a plan
The DOL requires that a new employee be provided with the ACA notice within 14 days of their hire date.
Downloadable Forms
All these forms and others are available on the AccuPay website under Resources/Forms. This includes a Spanish version of the I-9 and W-4 form. If you process your payroll with AccuPay, our new employee and direct deposit forms are available at www.accupay.com
Team-Up with AccuPay!
A perfect “new hire package” to send to AccuPay consists of the following forms:
- A completed “New Employee/Change Form” – You can complete this form from information included on forms W-4, WH-4 and I-9;
- Direct Deposit Authorization and Voided Check (if direct deposit is desired)
We also have a number of calculators as a resource to help you through this process. You can access them here.