Before you can pay employees, make sure you've registered for payroll in their applicable work state. This can sometimes take several weeks—the sooner you start the process, the sooner you'll have the tax account info required to pay them. Learn more about paying your first employee in a new state by watching this quick tutorial.
Gusto partners with CorpNet to help you register in the state—learn more below.
Click Register a company with the state agencies on your own or Find account numbers and rate info—the company is already registered with the state to learn more about:
Payroll blocked?
Check out our payroll blocked troubleshooting tips article.
Once a work address has been added in a new state and a new employee has been hired and assigned a work address in that state, you can get registration assistance in Gusto.
Pricing varies by state—get started below and during step 4, you'll review the price, process, and estimated timeline to completion.
Here’s a snapshot of the process:
CorpNet can walk you through entering any info that they themselves do not enter in Gusto on your behalf.
After you send your order, we’ll email you with status updates and add your order total to your next monthly invoice.
When your order is complete you’ll receive emails from both Gusto and CorpNet. They’ll detail the next steps which include:
Before your order is completed, you can use the link in the state registration confirmation email from Gusto to check the status of your order.
You can also check the status in your Gusto account:
If an order is already completed, you'll need to contact CorpNet at [email protected] or 1(888) 449-2638 to cancel. They’re open Monday-Friday from 7am-5pm PT.
If your order is still in progress, you can cancel from your Gusto account:
Q: Can I run payroll for my employees before my registration is complete?
A: Not in most cases—you typically need to have a withholding account number and required tax rate(s) in Gusto before you can run payroll.
If you’re registering in a state where there is no income tax withheld, you can use the state-specific “new employer rate” in this article until you receive your company-assigned rate from the agency.
Q: Can I use Gusto to register in a new state if I don't have a Federal Employer Identification Number (FEIN) yet?
A: No–you must have a FEIN entered in Gusto to order a state tax registration.
Q: Where can I see all my tax information?
A: You can see all tax details in the following locations:
Gusto’s state tax registration service does not contain tax, legal, financial, or HR advice. Since rules and regulations change over time and can vary by location, consult a lawyer, HR expert, or accountant for specific guidance.
Q: My company is a nonprofit and I'm unable to enter 0% in the responsible party section, what do I do?
A: Some states have a 1% minimum for the responsible party ownership percentage. Those states are: ID, KS, MN, OH, SC, DC, DE, MD, NJ, NY, and RI.
Registration orders will need to be placed directly through CorpNet, outside of Gusto, or you'll need to register directly with the agency yourself.
Click the dropdowns below to learn how to register with state and local agencies and how to give Gusto the third-party access (TPA) we'll need to file and pay certain taxes on your behalf.
The Ohio Department of Taxation does not require that you grant Gusto third-party access to your account for us to file or pay your withholding taxes.
Once a valid Ohio work address has been added in Gusto for one or more employee(s), you can add your tax account information:
Your company typically becomes liable for state unemployment insurance tax once the company has:
If you need to run payroll and do not yet meet the above requirements, Gusto allows it—we just suggest you add the "New employer SUI tax rate" specific to Ohio in the meantime.
You'll want to register with the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services as soon as you become liable—eventually, Gusto will need:
You can check your liability and register online using the steps below. You should receive your account number and unemployment rate instantly after registering online, or 3-4 weeks if registering by mail.
Once a valid Ohio work address has been added in Gusto for one or more employee(s), you can add your tax account information:
If you have owners or officers who have received an exemption from Ohio unemployment insurance (UI) taxes, then those owners' wages must be excluded from your quarterly wage reports to the state or your entire tax filing will be rejected. To accomplish this, you'll need to set up an exemption for the owner or officer in Gusto—this ensures we do not report their wages in error.
To view or update the owner or officer information currently on file with the agency:
You should contact the agency directly if you need any clarification about which owners or officers should be marked as "exempt." When Gusto files your returns, if the exemptions set in our system do not align with the exemptions on file with The Source, filings will be rejected.
Reminders:
City taxes in Ohio are primarily based on the employee's work location. It is mandatory for the employer to:
Registering and entering your tax account information in Gusto
You can learn more about the associated local municipal tax credits in the applicable dropdown below in the article.
Some cities outsource their tax collection to third-party tax collectors. If you will be paying income tax in a local municipality administered by the RITA, you must register your business with the tax collector. Registration is available online.
If you prefer to file by paper:
In order for Gusto to help troubleshoot tax issues, we'll need you to authorize Gusto as your third-party agent (TPA). Gusto will become your TPA for the agency below:
To become your third-party agent, a notarized form authorizing Gusto as your payroll provider must be submitted to the agency—to make this easy, we’ll prepare the necessary document for you to e-sign in Gusto. Then, we’ll submit the form directly to the agency.
The form will be ready to sign once the below is completed in Gusto:
To sign the form in Gusto:
If you've already registered in the state, you'll need to enter your tax account details in Gusto to pay employees.
You'll need to be registered with one or more of the below agencies in order for Gusto to file and pay taxes on your behalf:
If you still need to register, click the Register a company with state and local agencies on your own dropdown above in this article.
If you're an existing employer in Ohio, the Department of Taxation should have issued you an 8-digit Withholding Account Number. This can be found on:
The Withholding Account Number will begin with 51, 52, 53, or 54. If you're unsure of the number, call the agency at (888) 405-4089.
You'll also get a withholding filing frequency based on the combined withholding tax liability (state and school district taxes) for the 12-month period ending June 30th of the previous year. Your filing frequency will be one of the below:
You can find details about the deposit schedule on the Department of Taxation FAQ article here.
The Department of Job and Family Services will have issued you a Unemployment Compensation Tax Account Number. You can find this on:
If you're unsure of your account number, call the agency at (614) 466-2319.
You'll also be issued an Ohio Contribution rate, also known as the unemployment tax rate. The unemployment tax rate can be found:
If you haven't yet been issued a company-specific tax rate, you can use the state-specific "new employer rate" found in this article. Once you receive your assigned rate, you can use the same article to help you update your rate.
Owner's exemptions—unemployment tax
If you have owners or officers who have received an exemption from Ohio unemployment insurance (UI) taxes, then those owners' wages must be excluded from your quarterly wage reports to the state or your entire tax filing will be rejected. To accomplish this, you'll need to set up an exemption for the owner or officer in Gusto—this ensures we do not report their wages in error.
To view or update the owner or officer information currently on file with the agency:
You should contact the agency directly if you need any clarification about which owners or officers should be marked as "exempt." When Gusto files your returns, if the exemptions set in our system do not align with the exemptions on file with The Source, filings will be rejected.
Reminders:
In order for Gusto to help troubleshoot tax issues, we'll need you to authorize Gusto as your third-party agent (TPA). Gusto will become your TPA for the agency below:
To become your third-party agent, a notarized form authorizing Gusto as your payroll provider must be submitted to the agency—to make this easy, we’ll prepare the necessary document for you to e-sign in Gusto. Then, we’ll submit the form directly to the agency.
The form will be ready to sign once the below is completed in Gusto:
To sign the form in Gusto:
Once a valid Ohio address has been added in Gusto for one or more employee(s), you can add your tax account information:
For employees who live and work in different cities (municipalities), where both cities consider them liable to pay income tax, they’re often allowed a full or partial credit for the tax owed and paid to the city they live in.
Tax credits must be handled on personal tax returns
Eligible employees will need to request a refund, based on the credit allowed, from their resident city tax after filing their personal tax returns (this may require additional forms or paperwork to request the refund from the city). As a result, you’ll no longer see credits reflected on payrolls.
Historically, Gusto automatically applied credits in real-time on payroll, so employees were not paying 100% of taxes to two different cities. Instead, they were only having tax withheld for the work-location city, and had the resident-city tax withheld less any available credits.
As of July 8 2022, Gusto is no longer supporting the automatic application of the credits on payroll, and employees may see additional taxes coming out of their paycheck, as both city taxes will be withheld (work and residential tax).
Employee exemption requests
Verifying local taxation
For employees used to seeing only a single work-location tax withheld on payroll, they can confirm the residential tax now being withheld is accurate by using this Ohio Tax Finder resource. Enter an employee’s home or work address as listed in Gusto to confirm the expected taxation.
If needed, employees can update their home address in Gusto, but employers must update an employee’s work address.
Asterisks info—only if applicable