West Virginia New Employer Information
Congratulations on your decision to become a West Virginia new employer! You will need a few things in place before you run your first payroll:
Federal and State Tax Accounts
Federal Tax Accounts:
- Apply for an Employer Identification Number (EIN, aka, FEIN) with the IRS online.
- To read more about how to apply for an EIN, read our help article, “How to Apply for an EIN”
- You will be assigned a unique nine-digit number to identify your business for your federal taxes by the IRS. To learn more please read, “What Is an FEIN?”
- Although it is not required, we suggest you register for the EFTPS (Electronic Federal Tax Payment System).
- EFTPS is an easy way to pay your federal taxes online or view any tax filings made on your behalf by Patriot Software (if you are a Full Service Payroll customer). To find out more about the EFTPS, please read our article, “What Is EFTPS?”
State of West Virginia Tax Accounts:
- West Virginia new employers will need to register online with Business4WV to create accounts as a new employer for both:
- state income tax (SIT) withholding with the WV State Tax Department.
- state unemployment insurance (SUI) with Workforce West Virginia.
- You must first create a user account to access the online registration.
- Most employers begin with a rate of 2.7%.
- You will have this rate for 36 months ending on June 30th. You will then be assigned a new SUTA rate based on experience in the account.
- To learn more about SUTA, please read our article, “What Is SUTA Tax?”
You will need to register your business for local income taxes if your business is affiliated in any way with these cities:
- Charleston
- Fairmont
- Huntington
- Morgantown
- Parkersburg
- Weirton
Setting Up Your New Employee:
- Fill out the required Form I-9 for employee work verification in the USA.
- This is a two-part form: the first section is filled out the by the employee and the second part is to be filled out by the employer.
- You must retain each employee’s completed Form I-9 as long as the individual works for you. For more information, please read “What Should Be in an Employee File?”
- Form WV/IT-104 is the state employee withholding allowance certificate for West Virginia.
Once you have all the necessary information, you will be able to set up your payroll for your business.
You will want to keep all payroll records for at least three years. For more information please read our help article, “What Employers Should Know About Employee Payroll Records.”
Let us know if you have any questions. We are here to help!
