Delaware registration and tax info

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Paid Family and Medical Leave (PFML)

Gusto manages Delaware PFML calculating and withholding employer contributions, optional employee contributions, and sending payments and filings to the state.

As of Jan 1, 2025, Delaware’s Family and Medical Leave Insurance Program is funded through these contributions.

Employer participation and requirements

Your responsibility depends on the number of employees you have:

  • Less than 10 employees (0-9):
    • Employers do not need to provide parental leave, medical leave, or family caregiving leave.
  • 10-24 employees
    • Parental Leave is required.
      • Employers pay 0.32% of employee wages.
    • Medical Leave and Family Caregiving Leave are optional.
    • Employers cannot cover 100% of employee PFML taxes—consult a tax advisor.
  • 25+ employees
    • Employers must provide:
      • Parental Leave: 0.32%
      • Medical Leave: 0.4%
      • Family Caregiving Leave: 0.08%
    • Employers cannot cover 100% of employee PFML taxes—consult a tax advisor.

Set up optional employee contribution deductions in Gusto

The full contribution amount is ultimately an employer's responsibility, but you can choose to have your employees help pay up to 50% of the tax.

You cannot start deductions in the middle of a quarter. Set it up before you submit your first payroll in a quarter for it to take effect ongoing.

  1. Go to Taxes & compliance and select Tax setup.
  2. Scroll to "Delaware Tax Setup" and click Manage taxes.
  3. Next to "Percent of PFML paid by employees" click edit.
  4. Make your selections and click Save.

How does Gusto determine the company's requirements?

Gusto calculates which lines of PFML coverage your company needs to provide based on the number of employees you have working in Delaware, according to our records (employees you've added and paid through Gusto).

  • For the program's introduction in late 2024, we’re using your Delaware employee count as of early December 2024.
    • Check the "Register for Delaware PFML" email we sent to see which coverage applies to your company.
  • Throughout each year, we'll calculate which lines of PFML coverage your company is required to provide (based on employees working in Delaware):
    • If you reach 10 or more employees: We’ll ask you to register for PFML and set up an account for Parental Leave.
    • If you reach 25 or more employees: We’ll update your withholdings, payments, and filings to include Parental, Medical, and Family Caregiver Leaves—and we’ll let you know your taxes will go up.

Company exemptions and private plans

We'll ask companies to either enter their PFML tax account info, or set up an exemption.

  1. If you're exempt from PFML or have an approved private plan, confirm with the state to avoid back taxes or penalties.
  2. Once confirmed, set up the company-level exemption in Gusto.

Employee exemptions (for temporary or limited/seasonal employees)

Employers can file a waiver to let the Division of Paid Leave know which employees are:

  • Temporary (working less than 12 months a year)
  • Limited (working fewer than 25 hours per week)

These employees are not eligible for the program. Learn more and get answers to FAQs here. 

How it works

  1. Submit a waiver through the LaborFirst portal—to get started:
    • Open this PDF.
    • Scroll to page 48 of the downloaded PDF (or page 45 of the document itself).
    • Find the header “Waiver Form”, and follow the instructions.
  2. Once approved, no employer or employee contributions are required. You’ll need to set up an employee-level exemption in Gusto (for both employee and employer Paid Leave taxes) to account for this in payroll. Follow the steps below to do so.
  3. On the add exemption page in Gusto, select My employee is exempt from paying this tax.
  4. Choose the employee and tell us why they’re exempt with a brief description.
  5. For the question “Which tax is this employee exempt from paying?” choose both: 
    • Delaware Paid Leave - Employee
    • Delaware Paid Leave - Employer
  6. Enter the start date of the exemption, click the checkbox to acknowledge the statement, and click Save exemption.

Important reminders

  • The waiver stays in effect until removed, revoked, or the employee leaves the company.
  • Delaware will notify you when an employee reaches 25% of the 12-month or 1,250-hour limit. 
    • You will not get a notice in the mail about a past-due amount, but you’ll need to pay it directly to the agency outside of Gusto.
    • You can choose to keep them on the waiver if you expect them to stay under the limit.
    • If you remove a waiver early, Delaware will calculate and add any past-due contributions to your next quarter’s balance of total amount due.

Register for PFML

  1. If you haven’t yet, register with Delaware One Stop.
  2. Sign in to or create your myDelaware account.
  3. Select the DOL LaborFirst Employer tile.
  4. Complete the registration questionnaire for LaborFirst, providing your owner/operator details, qualifications, address, etc.
  5. In the “Paid Leave Enrollment” section, select Register for Paid Leave.
    • Once registered, your PFML account number will be on your Employer Portal Home Screen.
  6. Complete the registration questionnaire for PFML, providing info about private plans, enrollment in DE PFML, etc.
    • Make sure to only select the lines of coverage you’re required to provide—Gusto is not yet supporting optional employee participation (withholding). 
  7. Review your registration summary, then select Next to submit your registration.
    • Make sure to save a copy of your account info, including your PFML Employer Account Number (listed as “Name” under “Account Divisions”).
  8. Give Gusto access to your PFML and SUI accounts by following the instructions below. 

Add your PFML account ID in Gusto

Once you have your PFML account ID, add it to Gusto so we can pay and file this tax. Go to Taxes & compliance and select Tax setup to view state tax account details. 

If you do not have the option yet, we're still developing support for it. In late December we'll ask companies to either enter their PFML tax account info, or set up an exemption.

Give Gusto access to your Delaware PFML and SUI accounts via Delaware LaborFirst

Only the Account Administrator of your tax account can give Gusto access. If you have not yet done so, you’ll need to register for a PFML account in MyDelaware.

  1. Sign in to your myDelaware account.
  2. Select the DOL LaborFirst Employer tile.
  3. In the hamburger menu on the top left, select Account Services and then select Add/Manage TPA Access.
  4. On the “Third-Party Administrators” screen, select New to create a "New Entity Relationship".
  5. Enter the following info:
    • Third Party Administrator: Gusto
    • Access start date: Jan 1, 2025
    • Authorization type: Administrator
  6. Select Save.
    • Unable to save? Call the agency at (302) 761-8375 and ask them to open a ticket to fix the issue. They're actively working to fix a known issue with adding Administrators, but you'll need to work with them directly in the meantime to get the issue fixed and give Gusto access.

Learn how to close or reopen tax accounts here.