Employers can save money and help reduce fraudulent claims for unemployment compensation, worker's compensation, and other public assistance by reporting new hired employees and rehired employees.
Federal and state laws require employers to report new hires and rehires to the Texas Office of the Attorney General. (Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996)
Employers must report new hires and rehires within 20 calendar days of the hire date. If you report electronically, you must report 12 to 16 days apart, which is about twice a month.
You must report all newly hired or rehired employees who live or work in any state. A good rule of thumb is that if the employee is required to fill out a W-4 form, you must report hiring that employee.
Texas Administrative Code provides the following penalties:
- $25 each time an employer fails to report hiring an employee
- $500 for conspiring with an employee to fail to file a report or submit a false or incomplete report
Reporting new hires to the Office of the Attorney General is separate from reporting quarterly wages to Texas Workforce Commission (TWC).
Office of Attorney General's New Hire Webpage
Go to the Office of Attorney General's (OAG) New Hire Reporting webpage. (Leave TWC webpage)
Report new hires in Texas to the Child Support Division of the Office of the Attorney General. You can report new hire information online, file uploads through the Internet, File Transfer Protocol (FTP), or by mail, fax, or phone.
Go to the Texas Attorney General's website for information about New Hire Reporting methods.
Benefits of Reporting Online
- Easy, simple, and quick
- Reduces postage and paper costs and improves the quality of data submitted
- Provides capability to print and/or view a history of records submitted
- Provides e-mail notification when income withholding orders are available for retrieval on the OAG's website
You help state agencies detect and prevent fraud and recover overpayments every time you give information to Texas New Hire Program.
TWC compares the new hire information with lists of people filing for unemployment benefits or with outstanding overpayments. TWC uses the information to stop benefits and recover overpayments.
When reported accurately and timely, new hire reporting helps:
- Prevent fraudulent public assistance, worker’s compensation, and unemployment benefit payments.
- Prevent overpayments or allow early detection of overpayments, resulting in substantial savings to the Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund (UITF).
- Return overpayments recovered by TWC to the UITF, which results in lower unemployment taxes.
- Reduce the number of requests for employment verification that employers receive from the Office of the Attorney General.
- Locate noncustodial parents sooner and increases child support collections for families.