District of Columbia payroll setup for your first hire

Withholding and unemployment are two doors.

Form FR-500 is the Combined Business Tax Registration. It lives at MyTax.DC.gov. The Office of Tax and Revenue new-business page says that online form is for a new registration. The unemployment door is the Employer Self-Service Portal at the Department of Employment Services. This is not Maryland’s one Combined Registration Application. This is not Rhode Island’s one Business Application and Registration. This is not Delaware’s Form UC-1, due no later than 20 days after the first day of business and covering seven State agencies.

The January 2022 unemployment-tax employer handbook says that, effective October 1, 2014, unemployment-tax registrations are processed on the Employer Self-Service Portal. A business with employees working in the District registers online at that portal. The handbook’s paper exception is narrow. A household employer with five or fewer employees who does not have a computer may ask the unemployment-tax division for a paper Form FR-500. A regular shop uses the portal.

The registration FAQ still says you register only by completing Form FR-500 online on the chief financial officer’s website, and that Form FR-500 is how the Department of Employment Services decides unemployment liability. That FAQ is older than the handbook’s October 1, 2014 portal rule. The new-business page tells a shop that already has a withholding account to contact the Department of Employment Services for unemployment insurance. Use the portal for a regular shop. Keep the registration FAQ beside it.

The portal says that after registration you will receive an Employer Identification Number, called an EIN. The handbook and the registration FAQ say the Department of Employment Services assigns a six-digit unemployment-tax account number. That number is not the federal employer identification number, called a FEIN. It is not the Office of Tax and Revenue account number. Hold the six-digit number. Do not substitute the federal number. Put that six-digit number on correspondence with the Department of Employment Services.

Register paycheck withholding with the Office of Tax and Revenue.

The District takes income tax from a resident’s paycheck. This is not Texas’s rule of no state paycheck withholding. A nonresident who works in the District can file a different certificate, described below. A federal Employee’s Withholding Certificate (Form W-4) still sits with the IRS.

The new-business page says Form FR-500 asks for a federal employer identification number or a Social Security number, the legal form of the business, the business address, officers’ Social Security numbers or individual taxpayer identification numbers, sales-tax locations, and the articles of the entity. Customer service on that page is 1101 4th Street, SW, Suite W270, Washington, DC 20024. The phone is (202) 727-4829. The page also prints that number as (202) 727-4TAX.

The withholding-forms page splits the returns by how you are set up. Form FR-900A is the annual return for an annual wage filer whose withholding is less than $200 per year. The 2026 Form FR-900A is due January 31, 2027. Deposits for that annual filer are due January 20, 2027. That page says not to use Form FR-900A as an annual reconciliation return. Form FR-900Q is the return if you pay monthly or quarterly. Beginning with tax year 2023, Form FR-900Q must be filed electronically on MyTax.DC.gov. The filing deadline is on or before the last day of the month after the quarter. Deposits are due on or before the 20th day of the month after the quarter, depending on how often you are set up to deposit. A household employee hired since January 1, 2019 needs a federal employer identification number and is reported on Form FR-900Q.

The 2026 Form FR-900Q instructions say every employer who pays wages to a District resident and withholds District income tax files Form FR-900A or Form FR-900Q, based on the filing frequency set up with the Office of Tax and Revenue. A quarterly filer files Form FR-900Q even if no tax was withheld, unless a final return was already filed. Those instructions say the Office of Tax and Revenue requires payments on a weekly, semi-weekly (twice a week), monthly, or quarterly basis, and a report on a quarterly basis. Deposits are due by the 20th day of the following month, or on or before the 20th day of the month after the quarter being reported. A weekend or holiday due date moves to the next business day. Those 2026 instructions do not print a dollar amount that chooses weekly instead of monthly. The dollar lines that are printed are the forms page’s less-than-$200 annual Form FR-900A, and Form FR-900P. Form FR-900P is the payment voucher when the payment is not electronic and is less than $5,000.

The employee form for a District resident is Form D-4, the Employee Withholding Allowance Certificate. The withholding-forms page says Form D-4 is currently under review. The employee files it with the employer when employment starts, and again when the claimed allowances change. The 2018 Form D-4 says every new employee who resides in the District and must have District income tax withheld files Form D-4 with the employer. A nonresident, or a military spouse, files Form D-4A instead. If allowances decrease, a new certificate is due within 10 days. Form D-4A, the Certificate of Non-residence in the District of Columbia, is also under review on the withholding-forms page. The 2018 Form D-4A says a person is a nonresident if their permanent residence is outside the District for the whole year and they do not live in the District for 183 days or more, or if they are a service member’s spouse. If they become a District resident, they file Form D-4 promptly. File the certificate the live forms page still names. Keep the “under review” note beside the 2018 forms.

Unemployment starts when one or more people perform services in the District.

The unemployment tax is often called SUTA, state unemployment tax, or SUI, state unemployment insurance. Official pages say unemployment compensation, or unemployment tax. The office is the Department of Employment Services. It is not the Office of Tax and Revenue’s withholding desk.

The liability page says that, generally, an employer with one or more individuals performing services in the District of Columbia is liable under the District of Columbia Unemployment Compensation Act. It does not matter whether the services are part-time or temporary. This is not California’s $100-in-a-quarter test. There is no 15-day California registration clock on these pages. This is not Delaware’s tax test of $1,500 in a quarter or one person in 20 weeks.

Household help is the exception on that page. A household employer becomes liable after $500 in aggregate wages in any calendar quarter, and then stays liable. The same page lists other people who are outside the regular shop. A babysitter under 18. Casual labor. A spouse, or a child under 21, of a sole proprietor. A commission insurance agent. A church. A sole proprietor’s own wages are not covered. Partners’ wages are not reported. Employees who are not partners are reported. A true independent contractor is not covered. If you employ people and do not register, and you are later found liable, the page says back taxes, interest, and penalty run from when the wages began. The phone on that page is (202) 698-7550. The emails are UITax.info@dc.gov and does@dc.gov.

The handbook says employers who pay wages to one or more employees for services in the District must register with the Department of Employment Services. Full-time, part-time, or temporary. D.C. Code § 51-101 is the definition section the unemployment chapter uses. The liability page is the headcount a first hire should use: one or more people performing services in the District.

In 2026 the new-employer rate is 2.7 percent, plus a 0.2 percent assessment, on $9,000.

Read the portal and the handbook together. Do not add the pieces a second time.

The Employer Self-Service Portal says that, under D.C. Code § 51-103, tax table VI stays in effect for the 2026 calendar year for employers who are not newly liable. The same page says the new-employer tax rate of 2.7 percent, the administrative assessment fee of 0.2 percent, and the taxable wage base of $9,000 remain the same. Quarterly filers’ 2026 rate notices were placed in the portal in January 2026 and mailed on January 30, 2026. The portal says annual and household 2026 rates were finalized and mailed during the third quarter of 2026. Use the notice in your portal account.

The handbook states the new-employer rule as a formula. A new employer is assigned a standard rate equal to the average rate of contributions paid by all employers in the preceding year, or 2.7 percent, whichever is higher. The 2026 portal prints 2.7 percent as the new-employer rate. Experience rating starts after 36 months of liability, counted on the rate computation date of June 30. Enter the rate on your notice. The 2.7 percent is the unemployment rate. The 0.2 percent is a separate assessment.

The handbook sets the taxable wage base at the first $9,000 paid to each covered employee in the calendar year. The administrative assessment is two-tenths of one percent (0.2 percent) of those taxable wages. The maximum is $18 per employee. It is in addition to the regular unemployment tax. It is due on the same date. It may be included in the same payment. Rated employers and reimbursable employers both pay it. Only the regular unemployment tax, not the assessment, may be reported on IRS Form 940. Do not add 0.2 percent on top of a 2.7 percent figure that you already treated as a combined rate. The portal prints them as two numbers.

Paid family leave is 0.75 percent. It is not unemployment tax.

Universal Paid Leave, also called paid family leave or PFL, rides with the Department of Employment Services. It is not a second unemployment tax. The paid-family-leave employer page prints 0.75 percent (0.0075) for every quarter of 2026. The first quarter of 2026 is due April 30, 2026. The second quarter is due July 31, 2026. The third quarter is due October 31, 2026. The fourth quarter is due January 31, 2027. That page says the rate rose from 0.26 percent to 0.75 percent on July 1, 2024, under D.C. Act 25-499 and D.C. Code § 32-541.03. The contribution is employer-funded. The page says employers do not deduct it from employees. It also says employers do not need to change anything in the portal for the rate change. The portal calculates it.

Do not fold 0.75 percent into the 2.7 percent unemployment rate. Do not add 0.2 percent a second time on top of either number. A shop with fewer than six employees may file on paper. That page says file Form UC-30 with the Office of Unemployment Compensation, then use Form PFL-30 as a worksheet. Do not mail Form PFL-30 with a check. Wage information from unemployment tax is shared with paid family leave. An annual filer may pay paid family leave once a year. The next report is due before April 15. The page says the 2025 annual report was due April 15, 2026. A self-employed person can opt in during an open enrollment in November and December. That opt-in is not the regular shop that just hired someone.

The quarterly unemployment report is not the withholding return.

The handbook’s quarterly report is Form UC-30. It is due the last day of the month after the quarter: April 30, July 31, October 31, and January 31. The portal, citing D.C. Code § 51-104, says the third quarter of 2026 is due Saturday, October 31, 2026. The portal also says 2025 annual filer reports were due Wednesday, April 15, 2026. Interest is 1.5 percent per month until paid. The late penalty is 10 percent of the amount due, or $100, whichever is greater. The handbook prints the same penalty as 10 percent of the tax due, or $100, whichever is higher, and interest of 1.5 percent of the tax due per month or fraction of a month. Those dollars are the unemployment file. They are not the withholding rules on Form FR-900Q.

The handbook says an employer with five or more employees files the contribution and wage report on the portal. For an employer with 250 or more employees, District law requires that electronic file. An employer with fewer than five employees may use paper Form UC-30. A household employer with fewer than five employees who elected annual filing may use Form UC-30H. The portal FAQ says every employer with at least five employees must use the portal, and it encourages every employer to use it. Payments are an electronic bank debit, called an ACH debit, or a check. The FAQ says the portal does not take ACH credit or a credit card. The email on that FAQ is uitax.info@dc.gov. Form UC-30 does not close Form FR-900Q. Form FR-900Q does not close Form UC-30. Neither form is the new-hire report.

New hire goes to the Directory of New Hires within 20 days.

The new-hire report is a list of who you just hired. It is not a box on Form FR-500. It is not a box on Form UC-30. It is not a box on Form FR-900Q. D.C. Code § 46-226.06 says the report is due within 20 days of the date the employee begins employment in the District, or is rehired. The required fields are the employee’s name, address, and Social Security number; the employer’s name, address, and federal employer identification number; and the date of hire, which is the first day services are performed for pay. Optional fields include a contact person, a phone number, whether medical insurance is available and the date the employee may qualify, the date of birth, and the salary. The report can go on an IRS Form W-4 or an equivalent form, by first-class mail, magnetically, or electronically. An electronic or magnetic file is up to two transmissions a month, not less than 12 days apart and not more than 16 days apart. A multi-state employer that files electronically may designate one state and notify the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The penalty is $25 per employee, or $500 if the failure was a conspiracy to withhold or falsify the report. The employer is penalized each calendar month until the employer complies. The Attorney General enforces the section.

The Office of the Attorney General new-hire page says the same 20-day clock for a hire or a rehire, under the federal personal-responsibility law. Register online with a federal employer identification number and an email address. Mail on the body of that page goes to the District of Columbia Directory of New Hires, P.O. Box 366, Holbrook, MA 02343. The phone is (877) 846-9523, extension 300. The email is contact@dc-newhire.com. The page prints the website as https://dcnewhire.com/. The footer on that page also prints P.O. Box 457, Norwell, MA 02061, the same phone, and fax (877) 892-6388. Use the Holbrook box in the body of the Attorney General page, and keep the Norwell footer beside it. The live directory homepage is the District of Columbia Directory of New Hires at www.dc-newhire.com. This is not Rhode Island’s 14-day report. This is not Delaware’s Form UC-1.

Workplace injury insurance is due when the shop has one or more employees.

The District calls this workers’ compensation. It is a policy you buy, or a self-insurance approval. It is not North Dakota’s exclusive state fund. It is not Washington’s exclusive state fund. It is not Ohio’s Bureau of Workers’ Compensation monopoly. It is not Texas optional coverage. The unemployment account does not sell this policy. The Office of Workers’ Compensation does not sell the ordinary policy.

The Office of Workers’ Compensation employer brochure says most District employers buy a policy from an insurance company licensed in the District of Columbia. An employer may apply to the Office of Workers’ Compensation to be certified as self-insured. Coverage must stay in place until that self-insured status is approved. The brochure says employers with one or more employees should obtain coverage for all of their employees in the District. Sole proprietors, casual workers, and unpaid volunteers are not covered. Federal employees and District government employees sit under different laws. A domestic worker is covered when the combined hours reach 240 or more in a 13-week calendar quarter, about 19 hours a week. The brochure says a failure to obtain coverage can be fined up to $10,000. The Office of Workers’ Compensation FAQ says the same one-employee rule, and that self-insurance must be approved by that office.

The brochure also says a shop with one or more employees posts the Notice of Compliance at each worksite, and that an injury report, Form 8, is due within 10 working days. D.C. Code § 32-1501 defines an employer to include anyone using the service of another for pay in the District of Columbia. A carrier includes a person or fund authorized under section 32-1534, and it includes self-insurers. D.C. Code § 32-1534 says every employer shall secure payment in one of two ways. Insure with a stock company, a mutual company, or another authorized person or fund, authorized under United States law, District law, or state law, and authorized by the Mayor. Or prove financial ability and get authorization to self-insure. A bond or securities can be part of that proof. A payroll login is not a policy.

How Gusto and Patriot describe the District of Columbia

Confirm the withholding account on Form FR-500 and MyTax.DC.gov. Confirm the unemployment account and paid family leave on the Employer Self-Service Portal, then on the six-digit number the Department of Employment Services assigns. Confirm the 2026 rates on the portal and on your notice. Confirm the new-hire file on the Attorney General’s page. The online door is the Directory of New Hires. Confirm workplace injury insurance with a licensed insurer, or with an approved self-insurance certificate. The Office of Workers’ Compensation does not sell the ordinary policy.

Gusto’s District of Columbia help article is the registration page. It says Gusto, through Middesk, registers District income-tax withholding and state unemployment insurance. It says the Office of Tax and Revenue handles withholding, and the Department of Employment Services handles unemployment tax and paid family leave. It says the District is among the places that mail tax-account information to the business. It says Gusto needs a notarized power of attorney for the Department of Employment Services account. The portal FAQ says an approved power of attorney must be on file before an agent can file wages and pay. Those two sentences point the same way. The article does not print the 2026 portal line of 2.7 percent plus 0.2 percent on $9,000, the 0.75 percent paid-family-leave rate, or the 20-day new-hire clock. Read Gusto’s District of Columbia help article. See Gusto on the directory.

Gusto’s unemployment-tax table for administrators prints a District row. The wage base is $9,000. The new-employer rate is 2.7 percent. Those two numbers match the 2026 portal. The table also prints an experience range of 1.9 percent to 7.4 percent. The portal landing page does not print that range. Treat the range as what the software page says. The table says to enter the rate in Box 2 of the Contribution Rate Notice, and not to include the administrative assessment in the unemployment rate. That split matches the portal, which prints 2.7 percent and 0.2 percent as separate numbers. Read Gusto’s unemployment-tax table.

Gusto’s forms list names Form FR-900A, Form FR-900M, Form FR-900Q, and Form FR-900P. The 2026 withholding-forms page does not list Form FR-900M as the current monthly return. Monthly payers and quarterly payers file Form FR-900Q. The same Gusto list names Form UC-30 and Form PFL-30 and says one form reports both unemployment and paid family leave. The paid-family-leave employer page says Form PFL-30 is a worksheet you do not mail, because unemployment wages are shared with paid family leave. Read Gusto’s forms list.

Patriot’s registration article is dated September 1, 2026. It says a new employer files Form FR-500 online with the Office of Tax and Revenue, and uses the Department of Employment Services registration portal for unemployment and for District paid family leave, called DCPFL. The two doors match the live pages. The article prints the new-employer unemployment rate as the average contribution rate paid by all employers in the preceding year, or 2.7 percent, whichever is higher. That formula matches the handbook. The 2026 portal prints 2.7 percent as the new-employer rate in effect. The article says experience rating starts after 4 to 5 years. The handbook says 36 months of liability as of June 30. Use the handbook’s 36 months. The article says paid family leave is 0.75 percent of each covered employee’s gross wages, paid entirely by the employer, and filed quarterly through the portal by the last day of the month after the quarter. The 0.75 percent and the employer-paid rule match the 2026 paid-family-leave table. The quarterly months on that table are April 30, July 31, October 31, and January 31.

The same Patriot article says workplace injury insurance is required with at least one employee, through a private insurance provider or a state-operated fund. The one-employee line matches the Office of Workers’ Compensation brochure and the FAQ. The state-operated-fund line does not. The brochure says most employers buy a policy from a company licensed in the District, or apply to be certified as self-insured. There is no monopoly fund on that brochure. The article says each new District employee files Form D-4. The resident form is Form D-4. A nonresident or a military spouse files Form D-4A. Both forms are marked under review on the withholding-forms page. The article says report a new hire within 20 days online at the Directory of New Hires. The 20-day line matches the Attorney General page and section 46-226.06. The article also prints a minimum wage of $18.40 an hour effective July 1, 2026, and a tipped base of $10.30. The Office of Wage-Hour Compliance says that, beginning July 1, 2026, the minimum wage rises from $17.95 to $18.40, and the tipped base rises from $10.00 to $10.30, under D.C. Code § 32-1003. Those wage figures match. The portal landing page still prints an older sentence: as of July 1, 2025, the minimum wage increases from $17.50 to $17.95. Use the Office of Wage-Hour page for the 2026 wage. This tax file uses the portal for the unemployment rate, not the wage poster. Read Patriot’s registration article. See Patriot on the directory.

What still sits on the employer

• Open withholding on Form FR-500, the Combined Business Tax Registration, at MyTax.DC.gov with the Office of Tax and Revenue. Open unemployment and paid family leave on the Employer Self-Service Portal with the Department of Employment Services. Those are two doors. The registration FAQ still points only at Form FR-500. The handbook, effective October 1, 2014, and the portal are the unemployment door for a regular shop. A household employer with five or fewer employees and no computer may ask for a paper Form FR-500.
• Hold the six-digit unemployment-tax account number. The portal’s sentence about an Employer Identification Number does not replace that six-digit number. Do not substitute the federal employer identification number. Do not substitute the Office of Tax and Revenue account number.
• Withhold District income tax from a resident’s paycheck. Have a resident complete Form D-4. Have a nonresident, or a military spouse, complete Form D-4A. Both forms are under review on the withholding-forms page. The 2018 Form D-4 says a new certificate is due within 10 days if allowances decrease. The 2018 Form D-4A uses a whole-year residence outside the District and a 183-day test. File Form FR-900A if you are an annual filer under $200 a year. That 2026 return is due January 31, 2027, and the deposit is due January 20, 2027. Do not use Form FR-900A as the annual reconciliation. File Form FR-900Q if you pay monthly or quarterly, including a quarter with no tax withheld, unless you already filed a final return. File Form FR-900Q electronically. The 2026 instructions do not print a dollar amount that chooses a weekly deposit over a monthly deposit. Use Form FR-900P only when the payment is not electronic and is less than $5,000.
• A regular shop is liable for unemployment tax when one or more people perform services in the District, including part-time or temporary work. Household help waits until $500 in a calendar quarter. A sole proprietor’s own wages are not covered. A spouse, or a child under 21, of a sole proprietor can be outside the tax. For 2026, the portal prints a new-employer rate of 2.7 percent, an administrative assessment of 0.2 percent, and a wage base of $9,000. The handbook’s formula is the preceding year’s average rate, or 2.7 percent, whichever is higher. The assessment maximum is $18 per employee. Do not add 0.2 percent a second time. Experience rating starts after 36 months as of June 30. Enter the rate on your notice.
• Paid family leave for each quarter of 2026 is 0.75 percent of covered wages. The employer pays it. Do not deduct it from the employee. Do not add it to the 2.7 percent. Quarterly due dates are April 30, July 31, October 31, and January 31. A shop with fewer than six employees may use Form UC-30 and keep Form PFL-30 as a worksheet. Do not mail Form PFL-30 with a check. File Form UC-30 by the last day of the next month. The portal says the third quarter of 2026 is due Saturday, October 31, 2026. Interest is 1.5 percent per month. The late penalty is 10 percent of the amount due, or $100, whichever is greater. Employers with five or more employees file the wage report on the portal. A shop with one employee is under that line and may use paper Form UC-30. Pay by an electronic bank debit or a check.
• File the new-hire report with the District of Columbia Directory of New Hires within 20 days of the date employment begins, or of a rehire. An electronic or magnetic file is two transmissions a month, 12 to 16 days apart. Mail on the Attorney General page goes to P.O. Box 366, Holbrook, MA 02343. The phone is (877) 846-9523, extension 300. The footer still prints P.O. Box 457, Norwell, MA 02061. The penalty in section 46-226.06 is $25 per employee, or $500 if the failure was a conspiracy, and it repeats each month until you comply. Form FR-500 does not satisfy that clock. Form UC-30 does not satisfy that clock.
• Buy workplace injury insurance when you have one or more employees, or get approval to self-insure before you drop the policy. Most shops buy from a company licensed in the District. The Office of Workers’ Compensation does not sell that policy. A missed policy can be fined up to $10,000. Post the Notice of Compliance. Form 8 is due within 10 working days of an injury. Sole proprietors, casual workers, and unpaid volunteers are outside the brochure’s covered group. A domestic worker waits until 240 hours in a 13-week quarter.
• Do not copy another state’s clock onto the District of Columbia. The District does not use California’s $100-in-a-quarter test. The District does not use a 15-day California registration clock. The District does not use Texas’s rule of no state paycheck withholding. The District does not use Delaware’s Form UC-1, Delaware’s 20-day seven-agency file, or Delaware’s $1,500-quarter or 20-week unemployment test. The District does not use Maryland’s one Combined Registration Application. The District does not use Rhode Island’s one Business Application and Registration, or Rhode Island’s 14-day new-hire report. The District does not use North Dakota’s exclusive state fund. The District does not use Washington’s exclusive state fund. The District does not use Ohio’s Bureau of Workers’ Compensation monopoly. The District does not use Texas optional coverage.

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