Tennessee New Hire Reporting in QuickBooks: What Gets Submitted

QuickBooks desktop payroll includes a built-in New Hire Report tailored to Tennessee state requirements, but employers using it should understand which fields are mandatory, which are optional, and where the software makes assumptions that may need correction before submission.

Tennessee’s Filing Window

Tennessee requires employers to submit new hire reports to the state’s New Hire Reporting Program within 20 calendar days after an employee is hired, rehired, or returns to work. Employers who file electronically or magnetically must transmit in two monthly submissions spaced no more than 16 days apart. The report QuickBooks generates is designed to carry the data fields the state expects, but the accuracy of that data depends on what was entered during employee setup.

Mandatory Fields the State Requires

Tennessee law mandates seven pieces of information on every new hire submission: employer name, employer address, employer federal Employer Identification Number (FEIN), employee name, employee home address, employee Social Security number, and the employee’s first day of work. QuickBooks pulls most of these directly from the company and employee records already on file, so if those records are complete and current, the mandatory fields should populate automatically.

Fields QuickBooks Imports Automatically

Several optional data points appear on the report based on what exists in the employee record:

• Date of birth — imported if it was entered during employee setup
• Gender — imported if it was entered during employee setup
• State of hire — imported if it was entered during employee setup

Tennessee encourages but does not require these fields. Because they are optional, employers can delete any of them from the report before transmitting if they prefer not to share that information with the state.

The Date of Hire vs. First Day of Work Distinction

This is where QuickBooks makes an assumption that may or may not be correct for a given employee. Tennessee defines the “date of hire” as the first day an individual performs services for wages. The “first day of work” — a mandatory field — is defined as the date an employee first performs work for pay.

Because most employers treat the hire date and the first day of work as the same thing, QuickBooks automatically copies whatever date sits in the Date of Hire field into the First Day of Work field. If those two dates are actually different for a given employee — for instance, if someone was formally hired on a Monday but did not start working until Wednesday — the imported date will be wrong and must be corrected manually before the report is submitted.

The same applies to the Date of Hire field itself. QuickBooks imports whatever date was entered in employee setup, and Tennessee’s definition is specific: the first day services are performed for wages. If the imported date does not match that definition, it should be changed.

Medical Benefits Availability

The report includes an optional field for indicating whether medical insurance is available to the employee. Employers enter “Y” if benefits are available and “N” if they are not. This field is not required by the state but is encouraged.

What to Check Before Submitting

The practical takeaway for employers running Tennessee new hire reports through QuickBooks payroll is that the software does much of the work but does not guarantee accuracy on every field. Before transmitting, it is worth verifying that all seven mandatory fields are present and correct, confirming that the First Day of Work field reflects the actual first day the employee performed paid work rather than simply accepting the copied hire date, and deciding whether to include or remove the optional demographic fields the state encourages but does not require.

The report itself is only as reliable as the underlying employee records, so gaps in setup — a missing date of birth, a blank state of hire, an incorrect hire date — will carry through to the submission unless someone reviews and corrects them first.