Here's everything you need to know and do to properly hire and onboard new employees in New York State.
Watch the video to learn more about our New York State Employee Onboarding Kit, which is now being used by over 1,000 employers in New York State to help make their hiring and onboarding process more efficient and effective.
What forms are included?
Start here. Download this simple one-page checklist of all of the documents you will need to onboard an employee in New York State.
As promised, your New York State Employee Onboarding Kit is complete with our very own checklist. It’s a simple one-pager to help you make sure you’ve covered all your bases when bringing on your new employee. Click the link below and it’s yours. And before I go, I just want to thank you again for letting us help you bring in your new employee - especially if it’s your first one! Bringing in new people is one of the most exciting parts of being in business and we wish you the best of luck.
Verifying first and foremost that your new employee(s) are able to legally accept employment in the United States.
The I-9 Form is the first and probably most critical form you need to complete to hire a new employee. It’s ful l name is the Employment Eligibility Verification I-9 Form. It’s issued by the U.S. Citizens and Immigration Services and the Department of Homeland Security. The I-9 Form is your way as an employer to verify your employee’s identity and establish that they’re eligible to accept employment in the United States. By completing the I-9 Form, your prospective employee suggests that he or she meets one of the following criteria…
When you complete the I-9 Form, you as an employer are required to verify that all newly-hired employees present “facially valid documentation” (or some kind of photo ID if you want to use plain English). For most people, this is a driver’s license or a passport.
Your employee must complete their section of the I-9 form on their first day. Then, they have 3 days to provide the required documentation. Keep in mind, for whatever documentation your new employee provides, you as the employer need to see the original format. Copies don’t count here. You have to inspect the documentation and deem it legitimate to the best of your knowledge. Then, you as the employer need to complete section 2, and store it away. And that’s it. You don’t need to send it anywhere or take any additional steps. You’ll just need to be able to access it in the event of a labor dispute or in case you get audited. So make sure it’s stored in a safe space. Finally, we recommend filing the I-9 Form separate from your employee’s personal file - which is where you’d keep things like their application, offer letter and tax forms.
No. Unless the employee has presented enough other documentation for completion of Section 2, you’ll need to let him know that he has not established work authorization. Show him the I-9 List of Acceptable Documents and ask him to provide alternate documentation or a valid receipt for a replacement document. Don't specify which documents on the list he needs to provide, as this must be the employee’s decision. The I-9 must be completed within 3 business days of the employee’s date of hire. If he fails to bring acceptable documentation within that timeframe, you should either terminate his employment or put him on an unpaid leave of absence for a defined and communicated length of time (e.g., 7 days) pending his presentation of proper documents.
No . Non-employees including volunteers, unpaid interns, and independent contractors should not complete an I-9, as none of these workers (if properly classified) are employees.
Setting up withholding for state and federal income taxes.
If you’ve ever accepted employment before, you’re probably familiar with the W-4 Form. The W-4 is also referred to as the Employee’s Withholding Allowance Certificate. It’s essentially the employee’s way of telling their employer (you) the correct amount of federal income tax to withhold from their pay. It’s required that you have your new employee complete the W-4 Form when they’re hired, but the IRS actually recommends that all your employees complete it every year, or at least any time their personal or financial situation changes. For example, federal income tax withholding for a single filer is different from a married filer. Same thing for a filer with no dependents compared to a filer with one or more dependents.
The tax that’s withheld from your employee’s paycheck goes directly to the IRS. By taking this money out of every paycheck, the IRS is essentially withholding their anticipated tax payment as they earn wages throughout the year. On the other hand, independent contractors, or 1099 employees, don’t necessarily pay income tax through their payroll checks, but they are required to pay taxes on their own, generally through quarterly installments with the final reconciliation at the end of the year, due on April 15th for the previous year, just like everyone else.
Employees can control how much is withheld from every paycheck by altering their filing status and adding additional withholding amounts. They may ask you, their employer, for advice on how they should file. While you should be well-equipped to help them with their options, technically this is not your advice to give. Your employee needs to make this decision on their own.
What we can say, and what many employees want to know, is that generally, the more income tax they withhold from each paycheck, the greater their annual tax refund might be - because essentially they overpaid the IRS. Now, some people don’t like this idea, because essentially what they’ve done is given the IRS an interest free loan for the year. On the other hand, more allowances usually mean the less taxes that will come out of your paycheck. If your employee doesn’t withhold enough from their paychecks, they could have to pay an additional sum to the IRS instead of getting a refund. And sometimes they can be subject to penalties and interest charges for under-withholding.
For most taxpayers, it’s recommended to try to match their withholding tax to their actual tax liability as closely as possible.
And if an employee doesn’t fill our their tax forms, taxes should be withheld from their paycheck at the highest tax bracket, single and 0 dependents.
More about the W-4 Form from the IRS.
Every employee must pay federal and state taxes, unless you’re in a state that doesn’t have state income tax - but New York is definitely not one of those states. The W-4 takes care of withholding for federal income tax, and the IT-2104 takes care of New York State income tax withholding. All in all, the IT-2104 Form is pretty straightforward. Just give it to your new employee to complete, just like you would the W-4 Form. Once they’re done, there’s a section on the first page for the employer to complete.
If the employee claimed more than 14 allowances, you’ll have to put a check mark in Box A before sending it into the New York State Tax Department. The address is on the form, but we’ve also provided it below. In most cases, you’ll just be putting a check mark in Box B, and again sending it into the New York State Tax Department.
