How to Report New Hires in Florida

Reporting a Florida Employer’s New Hires

Employers in Florida are legally required to report all new hires, including rehires of terminated or furloughed employees, to the Florida New Hire Reporting Center ("NHRC") 20 days of the employee's start date. This information is used to collect child support and to prevent potential unemployment or workers' compensation fraud.

Determine Reporting Requirements

New hires need to be reported to the state of Florida no matter how short their tenure might be. Even if you end up terminating them at the end of the first day, you'll still need to let the NHRC know about it if you have the employee's completed W-4. You also need to report any former employees who return to work after being absent for 60 or more days. However, there are no reporting requirements when business hire a temporary employee from an agency. In that case, the temp agency is the one stuck with the paperwork. You don't need to report any independent contractors that you work with, either.

How to Report Known Hires

New hires can be reported either online by using the Florida Department of Revenue's website, or by printing out this form and sending it by fax or by mail. You'll need the following information from your employee, which you should be able to find on their W-4:

• Name
• Address
• SSN
• Date of Hire
• Date of Birth

You'll also need to provide some information about your own company, including its:

• FEIN
• Name
• Address

According to the instructions at the top of the page, you need to print all the aforementioned information in the appropriate boxes in capital letters. Don't leave anything out - incomplete forms won't be processed.

Reporting Requirements When Buying a Business

When participating in a business acquisition, you will only need to report the acquired employees as new hires if the new entity uses a different federal employer identification number (FEIN) to report quarterly wages. If you're using the same FEIN, then you don't need to worry about it. However, if you any doubts, you might want to cover your bases by reporting anyone hired within the 180 days prior to your takeover.

Employment law is a minefield of regulations and requirements that most business owners are, understandably, hesitant to navigate on their own. For an ally that you can trust, contact our offices at (727) 279-5037 or visit our website.