Complete Form I-9 for new hires

Form I-9 is used to document that each new hire is authorized to work in the United States.  

When does Gusto generate an I-9 for a new hire? 

• Gusto only generates Form I-9s for:
  • Employees added with an employment start date of today or later, and
  • Employees who self-onboard. When adding an employee to Gusto, you’re asked if you’d like them to self-onboard, which means they enter their own personal details and sign documents (including Form I-9). 
• If you hire an employee with a start date in the past, an I-9 will not be generated in Gusto and you'll need to fill the form out manually outside of Gusto. 
  • If you’re on the Plus or Premium plan, you can then upload the document to the employee's account. 
    • If you upload an I-9 manually and need to remove the I-9 reminder from your Home page, contact us from the Help or Priority support section of your Gusto account. 

Complete the employer portion of Form I-9

On your employee's start date, you’ll see a note on your Home page and an email reminding you to complete the employer portion of the Form I-9. If the I-9’s not in the employee's account, send them the Form I-9 to complete outside of Gusto.

1. Sign in to your Gusto admin account.
2. Click the Complete Employee I-9 sticky note.
3. Review your new employee’s proof of identification documents that they have physically handed to you.
   • For more info on the required documents, scroll to "Eligibility document requirements" in this article.
4. Select which identification and work authorization documents you reviewed.
5. Click Save & Continue.
6. Enter the information seen on the identification and work authorization documents.
7. Click Save & Continue.
8. Enter your full name, your title at the company, and select I agree to electronically sign this form.
9. Click Sign.

If you need to edit the I-9, you'll have to do it outside of Gusto. Once edited, we recommend uploading the corrected version to your employee's profile so everything is up to date. 

Check out the USCIS website for more info on best practices when correcting an I-9.

If you need to delete an I-9, contact us through the Help or Priority support section of your account for assistance.

If you hire a remote employee, you must complete Form I-9 with them by their start date. Form I-9 is required by the federal government to verify an employee’s identity and eligibility to work in the United States.

Temporary pause of in-person document review for remote employees

Section 2 of the I-9 requires the employer to review identification and employment eligibility documents. Normally, the employer must review the documents in person. In light of the pandemic, employers may verify the documents remotely until July 31, 2023. 

New requirement—Aug 30, 2023 deadline

If you previously examined documents remotely in light of the pandemic, you have until August 30, 2023 to complete in-person physical document inspections for employees whose documents were inspected remotely.

• Example: If you hired someone in 2021 and reviewed their I-9 remotely (due to work from home restrictions because of COVID), you now need to contact that employee and review their I-9 in person by the deadline listed above.

How to fill out the I-9 with a remote employee

The new hire must complete Section 1 of the form by their start date. The employer must complete Section 2 within three business days of the start date.

Here’s how to fill out the form:

1. First, review the full requirements for obtaining, inspecting, and retaining copies of employee documents on the Immigration and Customs Enforcement website.
2. Next, check DHS and ICE’s news release boards for any recent changes. When they announce that normal I-9 requirements are resuming, you’ll need to start verifying new hires’ documents in person again.
3. Have your employee fill out Section 1 of the I-9 by their start date.
   • If you opted to have the employee self-onboard to Gusto, and their hire date is today or later, then they’re prompted to fill out Section 1 in Gusto. If the I-9 is not in their account, send them the Form I-9 to complete outside of Gusto.
4. Within 3 days of the employee’s start date, the employer or authorized representative must inspect the employee’s identification and employment eligibility documents and fill out Section 2.
   • What to look for: An identification document is acceptable as long as it identifies the employee, reasonably appears to be genuine, and is not expired.
   • Remote examination: Until July 31, 2023, the requirement to physically examine remote workers’ documents is paused. You can examine documents via video meeting, email, fax, etc.
     • New requirement for in-person examination: If you previously examined documents remotely in light of the pandemic, you have until August 30, 2023 to complete in-person physical document inspections for employees whose documents were inspected remotely.
   • An authorized representative: Anyone you authorize to complete and sign Section 2 on your behalf as the employer.
   • For line-by-line guidance: Reference the IRS Guide for Completing Section 2.
5. Double-check that every field is filled out and that the information's correct, then sign the form.
6. Ask your employee to send you a copy of their signed form and each of their eligibility documents.
   • They can provide a photo or scan the documents with an iPhone or Android.
7. Store a copy of the eligibility documents and the signed I-9 form for three years, or one year after the employee’s termination — whichever comes first.
   • You have the option to store the documents in Gusto: here are steps for admins to upload documents, and steps for employees to upload documents.
8. Once normal business operations begin, inspect all recent hires’ documents in person and update the forms if necessary.

The type of documentation needed to prove employment eligibility depends on the employee's status in the United States. Documents must be current and not expired. 

For more info on these requirements, check out the official I-9 form on the government website.

Once Form I-9 has been completed, you can view it in an employee’s profile. You can also download all I-9s Gusto has on file for your entire team.

View a specific employee’s I-9

1. Go to the People section and select Team members.
2. Click your employee's name.
3. Click the Documents tab.
4. View the Form I-9.

Your employee can also access and download this form at any time by navigating to the Documents tab in their own account.

Download a package of all Form I-9s in Gusto

1. Click the Company section and select Documents.
2. Click the Bulk I-9 and W-4 form packages tab.
   • A package may only be generated once per day. Depending on file size, it could take a while for your .zip file to be created.
3. On the I-9 row, click Generate.
   • These packages do not automatically update, so we recommend you click generate to make sure current employee information is included in your download.
4. Wait for the W-4 package to generate.
   • If you try to download a new package while the initial package is still generating, you'll download the old file.
5. Click Download—this will always download the last fully generated file.

The download shouldn’t take long. However, if your company has a large number of employees, check back in about 5 minutes to see if your .zip file is ready for download.