Georgia New Hire Reporting in QuickBooks: What Employers Need to Know
QuickBooks users managing Georgia payroll must submit new hire reports within 10 calendar days. Here is how the fields populate and what the state requires.
QuickBooks employers with workers in Georgia have a specific compliance obligation that the software helps address through its built-in New Hire Report for the state. The report must be submitted to the Georgia New Hire Reporting Program within 10 calendar days of an employee’s first day of work, and understanding which workers trigger the requirement — and how QuickBooks populates the relevant fields — can prevent missed filings.
Who Must Be Reported
Georgia employers must report all employees who reside or work in the state and to whom the employer anticipates paying earnings. The requirement applies even when an employee works a single day and is terminated before the employer completes the new hire reporting process.
The obligation extends well beyond first-time hires. Employers must also report rehires and employees who return to work after a termination or a leave without pay. Anyone who remains on the payroll during a break in service or a gap in pay — and then returns — falls under the reporting mandate. That sweep captures teachers, substitutes, and seasonal workers, among others.
Temporary agencies carry their own responsibility. An agency must report any worker it hires for an assignment, but the worker needs to be reported only once. Re-reporting is not required each time the employee reports to a new client. However, if the worker experiences a break in service or a wage gap from the agency, a rehire report becomes necessary.
How QuickBooks Populates the Report Fields
The Georgia New Hire Report in QuickBooks draws on employee setup data, but not every field auto-fills. Knowing which ones do — and which require manual entry — is essential before generating the filing.
Fields QuickBooks Imports Automatically
Date of Birth is a required field on the report. QuickBooks pulls it directly from the employee record, so the data must be entered during setup for it to appear.
Date of Hire is also imported from the employee setup. If the date QuickBooks transfers is incorrect, the user can manually adjust it on the report.
First Day of Work is mandatory, and QuickBooks handles it by automatically copying the value from the Date of Hire field into the First Day of Work field. The state defines this date as the day an employee first performs paid work — which, for most employers, aligns with the hire date. Users should verify that the auto-populated date reflects reality.
State of Hire is another required field that QuickBooks imports from employee setup, provided the information was entered there.
Fields Requiring Manual Entry
Medical Benefits Availability must be entered manually. The field requires a “Yes” if medical benefits are available to the employee and “No” if they are not.
Employee’s Monthly Salary is optional. Employers who wish to include it can enter the monthly salary for each new hire, but the field can be left blank without affecting compliance.
Practical Takeaways for Employers
The most common pitfall is incomplete employee setup. Because QuickBooks relies on the data entered during employee onboarding to populate four of the six report fields — date of birth, date of hire, first day of work, and state of hire — gaps in the setup record will carry through to the report. Employers should verify that each new hire’s record contains a date of birth, an accurate hire date, and the correct state before generating the filing.
The rehire reporting requirement is another area where employers can slip up. Seasonal workers returning after a layoff, substitutes coming back after a gap, or any employee returning from an unpaid leave all trigger the obligation. QuickBooks users who manage payroll for Georgia-based workers should build a habit of generating the New Hire Report whenever a rehire occurs, not just for brand-new employees.
Finally, the 10-calendar-day window leaves little room for delay. Since the clock starts on the employee’s first day of work — not the pay date or the end of a pay period — employers should plan to run and submit the report promptly after onboarding. For users troubleshooting broader payroll reporting issues, the key is confirming that the employee record is complete before the report is generated, which minimizes the need for manual corrections after the fact.