West Virginia New Hire Reporting in QuickBooks: What Employers Need to Know
QuickBooks desktop payroll can generate West Virginia new hire reports, but employers must understand filing deadlines, required data fields, and rehire rules.
QuickBooks desktop payroll includes built-in support for generating West Virginia New Hire Reports, but employers running the report for the first time frequently encounter questions about timing, required data, and which employees must be included. Here is what the accepted community guidance covers.
Filing Deadline
West Virginia requires employers to submit new hire reports to the state’s Directory of New Hires within 14 days after an employee is hired, rehired, or returns to work. Employers who file electronically or magnetically must submit reports in two monthly transmissions spaced no more than 16 days apart.
Who Must Be Reported
Employers doing business in West Virginia must report any employee who resides or works in the state and to whom the employer anticipates paying wages. This includes workers who are terminated after a single day — they still need to be reported even if they are no longer on the payroll by the time the filing deadline arrives.
Rehires and returning employees must also be reported. This covers anyone returning after a termination or unpaid leave, as well as employees who remain on the books during a break in service and then resume work. Teachers, substitutes, and seasonal workers all fall under this requirement.
Temporary agencies are responsible for reporting individuals they hire for assignments. Once a temp worker is reported, the agency does not need to re-report that person for each new client placement. However, if there is a break in service or a gap in wages, the worker must be reported again as a rehire.
Required and Optional Data
West Virginia mandates the following information on every new hire report:
- Employer name, address, and Federal Employer Identification Number (FEIN)
- Employee name, address, and Social Security Number
- State of hire (for multistate employers)
- Date of hire
- First day of work
The state also encourages — but does not require — employers to include the employee’s date of birth and whether medical insurance is available.
How QuickBooks Populates the Report
QuickBooks pulls data directly from each employee’s setup record, so the accuracy of the report depends on what has been entered beforehand.
Date of Birth: QuickBooks imports this field if it exists in the employee profile. Because it is optional for West Virginia, employers can delete it from the report if they prefer not to share it.
Date of Hire: The date stored in the employee setup carries over to the report. Employers can edit this on the report itself if the recorded date needs correction.
First Day of Work: This is a mandatory field, defined as the date the employee first performs paid work. Because most employers treat the hire date and the first day of work as the same, QuickBooks automatically copies the Date of Hire value into this field. Employers should verify that the date is correct, especially when an employee’s actual first day differs from the hire date.
State of Hire: QuickBooks imports the state of hire from the employee record. Multistate employers must confirm this field is populated, as West Virginia requires it for compliance.
Medical Benefits Availability: This optional field appears on the report and can be completed at the employer’s discretion.
Practical Takeaways
The most common stumbling block is incomplete employee setup data. Because QuickBooks relies on the employee profile to generate the report, missing or incorrect dates, addresses, or Social Security Numbers will carry through to the filing. Employers should review employee records before running the report rather than after.
Another frequent point of confusion involves temporary and seasonal workers. The key distinction is whether a break in service or wages occurred. If it did, a new report is required. If the worker simply moved from one assignment to another without a gap, no additional filing is needed.
For broader guidance on QuickBooks payroll reporting and compliance tasks, the community knowledge base covers setup, troubleshooting, and state-specific filing requirements.