Texas New-Hire Reporting

From: Staffing

Texas New-Hire Reporting

The federal Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA) requires all states to adopt laws requiring employers to report information on newly-hired employees to the state child support agency. Texas law regarding new-hire reporting is located at Tex. Family Code §§ 234.101 – 234.105. Pursuant to the law, Texas employers must report new hires within 20 calendar days of the employee’s first day of work.

As used in the Texas new hire law, the following definitions apply:

  • An employee is an individual who is an employee for purposes of federal income tax withholding from wages per 42 U.S.C. § 653a(2)(A), 26 U.S.C. § 3401(c).
  • An employer is the person for whom an individual (the employee of such person) performs or performed any service, of whatever nature. The term includes government entities and labor organizations.
  • An employee is considered to be rehired on the first day on which the employee is owed compensation by the employer following a termination of employment or a layoff. If an employee who is returning to work is required to complete a new Form W-4, they must be reported as a new hire. This applies to seasonal, temporary, part-time, and full-time employees.

Required Information

Employers are required to report the following seven data elements:

  • Employee’s name
  • Employee’s address.
  • Employee’s Social Security number.
  • Employee’s date of hire. The date of hire is the first day that services are performed for wages by an individual. For rehires where a new W-4 is prepared, the date of hire is the return date and not the original date of hire.
  • Employer’s name.
  • Employer’s address.
  • Federal Employer Identification Number (federal EIN).

Employers, at their option, may also provide the following additional information in the report:

  • Employee’s date of birth.
  • Employee’s expected salary or wages.
  • Employer payroll addresses for mailing of notice to withhold child support.
  • Employee’s pay frequency.
  • Employee’s state of hire.
  • Employer’s phone and fax number.
  • State Employer Identification Number (SEIN).
  • Alternative names used by the employer (DBA, or “doing business as” name).

Reporting

Employers are encouraged to report their new hires online through the Employer New Hire Reporting Operations Center. For the most current methods of reporting other than online, see Reporting Methods.

Multistate Employers

Multistate employers can report new hires:

  • To the state in which the new hires are working; or
  • To one state in which the employer has a business location, regardless of where the newly hired employees work.

Under the second option, employers are required to follow the new-hire regulations of the selected state.

Multistate employers must also report all new hires to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) through the online Child Support Portal or by filling out and mailing the Multistate Employer Notification Form for New Hire Reporting.

Penalties

An employer who knowingly violates any new hire procedures for reporting employee information may be liable for a civil penalty of

  • Up to $25 for each employee an employer knowingly fails to report.
  • Up to $500 for conspiring with an employee to either fail to file a report or to submit a false or incomplete report.

The Attorney General may sue to collect the civil penalty.