Resolving Unexpected State Tax Requirements During Payroll Setup

During payroll setup, you may notice a state appearing in your Expected Tax Notices or tax configuration that you didn't anticipate. This article explains why this happens and how to resolve it.

Why Is an Unexpected State Appearing?

State withholding and unemployment taxes are determined by each employee's home address and work location. If an unexpected state appears in your payroll tax setup, it means at least one employee has a home or work address associated with that state. The first step is always to audit your worker profiles to confirm whether the requirement is legitimate.

Step 1: Identify the Source

Review your worker profiles to find which employee(s) have a home address or work location in the unexpected state. This will help you determine the correct course of action.

Step 2: Choose the Appropriate Resolution Path

If the address is incorrect or outdated

Update the employee's home address or work location in their worker profile. Once corrected, the state will automatically be removed from your Expected Tax Notices on the next sync, which typically occurs within a week.

If the address is correct and the employee does live or work in that state

The tax requirement is legitimate. You will need to register for that state's unemployment and/or withholding tax account and enter the required account numbers. To do this:

1. Navigate to Payroll → Employer Profile → Tax Info

2. Locate the relevant state and enter your tax account information

Step 3: What to Do If You Don't Have the Tax Account Number Yet

If you haven't yet obtained the required state tax account number, you have a couple of options to avoid being blocked during setup:

• Go to Payroll → Employer Profile → Tax Info, click Edit on the state, then click "I don't have it yet" in the panel that appears. This will display instructions on how to register and obtain the account number for that state.

• On the tax input screen, click "I don't have it" to bypass that field temporarily and continue with the rest of your setup while you work on obtaining the required information.

When to Contact Support

In some situations, you may need assistance from the support team:

• No legitimate connection to any employee: If a state is appearing in your payroll tax setup but no employee lives or works there, support can manually remove the state requirement from your account so you can proceed.

• Unable to submit without required state information: If the system requires state tax details before you can move forward and you are unable to enter them yourself, you can provide your complete tax account details to support, who can enter the information on your behalf.