Northern Mariana Islands payroll setup for your first hire

Two paycheck taxes go to the Division of Revenue and Taxation.

The Northern Mariana Islands takes two taxes out of a paycheck. Both go to the Division of Revenue and Taxation in the Department of Finance. They do not go to the IRS. This is not Guam’s Form W-1 and Form 500 path at the Guam Department of Revenue and Taxation. This is not the U.S. Virgin Islands path of Form 501-VI to the Bureau of Internal Revenue plus a Virgin Islands unemployment account. This is not Puerto Rico’s withholding account on SURI, the Unified Internal Revenue System. This is not the District of Columbia’s Form FR-500. This is not American Samoa’s December 31, 2000 income-tax freeze or its 2 percent wage tax. This is not Texas’s rule of no state paycheck withholding. This is not California’s one employer payroll-tax registration.

The January 2023 withholding guidelines say every person who pays wages and salaries must withhold two taxes. One is the Wage and Salary Tax, known as the Chapter 2 tax. The other is the income tax known as the Chapter 7 tax, the Northern Mariana Territorial Income Tax. The guidelines call Chapter 7 a mirror of U.S. income-tax withholding. The Division’s address on those guidelines is Post Office Box 5234 CHRB, Saipan, MP 96950. The phone is (670) 664-1000. The Department of Finance home page names Revenue and Taxation as a division. A banner on that home page says the Division extended the deadline for certain forms. The banner does not name Form OS-3705 or Form OS-3710. Do not treat that banner as a due date.

Chapter 2 comes off the Wage and Salary Withholding Tax Table in the guidelines. Chapter 7 starts with the table in Publication 15-T, the federal income-tax withholding methods. The guidelines say that amount is only tentative. Under the NMTIT, the employee gets a non-refundable credit for the Chapter 2 tax withheld against the Chapter 7 tax. The Chapter 7 tax you actually withhold is the Publication 15-T amount minus the Chapter 2 amount. The examples are for a single employee with one allowance, paid every two weeks. Employee D has gross wages of $1,200. Chapter 2 is $84. The computed Chapter 7 amount is $131. The actual Chapter 7 withholding is $47. The total withheld is $131. In the second example, the combined withholding is $697, made of $408 for Chapter 2 and $289 for Chapter 7. Those figures are January 2023 teaching examples. They are not a 2026 rate sheet.

The paycheck table and the annual table are not the same percent.

The January 2023 guidelines print a Chapter 2 table for each payroll period. The rates run from 0 percent to 9 percent. Use the row for the period you pay. Do not move a weekly bracket onto a monthly check.

Weekly wages: up to $19.24 is 0 percent. From $19.25 to $96.17 is 2 percent. From $96.18 to $134.66 is 3 percent. From $134.67 to $288.48 is 4 percent. From $288.49 to $423.09 is 5 percent. From $423.10 to $576.94 is 6 percent. From $576.95 to $769.24 is 7 percent. From $769.25 to $961.55 is 8 percent. From $961.56 and over is 9 percent.

Biweekly wages: up to $38.49 is 0 percent. From $38.50 to $192.34 is 2 percent. From $192.35 to $269.26 is 3 percent. From $269.27 to $576.96 is 4 percent. From $576.97 to $846.19 is 5 percent. From $846.20 to $1,153.88 is 6 percent. From $1,153.89 to $1,538.49 is 7 percent. From $1,538.50 to $1,923.11 is 8 percent. From $1,923.12 and over is 9 percent.

Semi-monthly wages: up to $41.70 is 0 percent. From $41.71 to $208.37 is 2 percent. From $208.38 to $291.70 is 3 percent. From $291.71 to $625.04 is 4 percent. From $625.05 to $916.70 is 5 percent. From $916.71 to $1,250.04 is 6 percent. From $1,250.05 to $1,666.70 is 7 percent. From $1,666.71 to $2,083.37 is 8 percent. From $2,083.38 and over is 9 percent.

Monthly wages: up to $83.41 is 0 percent. From $83.42 to $416.74 is 2 percent. From $416.75 to $583.41 is 3 percent. From $583.42 to $1,250.08 is 4 percent. From $1,250.09 to $1,833.41 is 5 percent. From $1,833.42 to $2,500.08 is 6 percent. From $2,500.09 to $3,333.41 is 7 percent. From $3,333.42 to $4,166.74 is 8 percent. From $4,166.75 and over is 9 percent.

For the Chapter 7 table, the guidelines say to use the current Publication 15-T for the taxable period. Download it from the IRS site by searching for Pub 15-T. Do not enter 22 percent as a Division withholding rate. The guidelines do not print 22 percent.

The annual wage-and-salary table is a different form. 2024 Form 1040CM includes Form NMI-A, the Annual Wage and Salary and Earnings Tax Return, from the Department of Finance, Division of Revenue and Taxation. That annual table is not the paycheck table. From $0 to $1,000.00 the rate is 0. From $1,000.01 to $5,000.00 it is 2.0 percent. From $5,000.01 to $7,000.00 it is 3.0 percent. From $7,000.01 to $15,000.00 it is 4.0 percent. From $15,000.01 to $22,000.00 it is 5.0 percent. From $22,000.01 to $30,000.00 it is 6.0 percent. From $30,000.01 to $40,000.00 it is 7.0 percent. From $40,000.01 to $50,000.00 it is 8.0 percent. From $50,000.01 the form prints the words “And and” before 9.0 percent. Schedule OS-3405A on that same packet prints a deadline of April 15, 2025. That date is the individual return. It is not the employer Form OS-3710 date. Use the table the Division gives for the return you are filing. Do not collapse the annual brackets into the weekly paycheck table.

Form OS-3705 is the quarter. Form 500-WH is the deposit.

Form OS-3705, revised October 2015, is the Employer’s Quarterly Withholding Tax Return. The note says that revision is effective the third quarter of 2015. The face is from the Division of Revenue and Taxation, Commonwealth Government of the Northern Mariana Islands. Line F is the total 4 CMC Division 1 Chapter 2 taxes withheld, minus amounts already paid on Form 500-WH line D.1, and minus a prior Form OS-3705 if you are amending. Line G is the Chapter 7, or NMTIT, tax computed and withheld, minus Form 500-WH line D.2. Attach Form 500-WH for the payments you claim. If the total is overpaid, put the amount in parentheses and check the refund box. The Division verifies the refund. If you file or pay after the deadline, the form says penalty and interest apply and you will be billed. It does not print a dollar for that penalty.

The guidelines and the form print the same quarter dates. File by the last day of the month after the quarter. The first quarter, ending March 31, is due April 30. The second quarter, ending June 30, is due July 31. The third quarter, ending September 30, is due October 31. The fourth quarter, ending December 31, is due January 31 of the following year. The guidelines say “close of the calendar” in that sentence. The form says on or before April 30, July 31, October 31, and January 31. Mail goes to the Division of Revenue and Taxation, P.O. Box 5234 CHRB, Saipan, MP 96950. Make the check payable to “CNMI TREASURER”. A check the bank returns unpaid is treated as unpaid. If you have no taxpayer identification number, apply at the Division or at the Social Security Administration. The Division assigns an identification number for CNMI taxes only.

A natural person must sign the return. An individual signs an individual return. A corporation is signed by the president, vice president, treasurer, assistant treasurer, chief accounting officer, or another officer authorized to sign. A partnership is signed by a partner. Any other entity is signed by a natural person as the NMTIT specifies.

Form 500-WH, revised May 2021 and effective May 2021, is the payment deposit form. The instructions say CNMI law requires you to withhold Chapter 2 and Chapter 7 from wages and salaries. The taxes you deduct may have to be deposited to the CNMI Treasury. Each payroll, look at the total taxes withheld that you have not yet deposited.

If that total is not at least $500, no deposit is required. If that payroll is the last payroll of the quarter, pay on quarterly Form OS-3705. If the total is at least $500 but not greater than $2,500, deposit by the 15th of the following month. If the total is greater than $2,500 and all of it is inside one quarter, deposit within 3 working days. If the total is greater than $2,500 and it is not all inside one quarter, make two deposits within 3 working days. One deposit is the amount withheld through the end of the quarter. The other is the balance for the next month. The form’s example is April 5, with $3,500 undeposited: $1,500 from the pay period ending March 22 and $2,000 from the pay period ending April 5. Deposit $1,500 for March and $2,000 for April. Both deposits are due by April 8. The check is payable to “CNMI TREASURER”. Mail goes to the Division of Revenue and Taxation, P.O. Box 5234 CHRB, Saipan, MP 96950.

The face of Form 500-WH also has boxes for Form 945-CM, backup withholding, other, and Form OS-3705. For Form OS-3705, enter the date of the last payroll check for the month. This deposit form is not Guam’s Form 500. Do not paste Guam’s $50,000 lookback or Guam’s semiweekly Wednesday-and-Friday rule onto Form 500-WH.

Form OS-3710 and Form W-2CM do not share one due date.

The January 2023 guidelines say the annual reconciliation of wages and withholding is due on or before February 28 of the following year. You file it on Form OS-3710, with Copy 1 of Form W-2CM, the Wage and Tax Statement.

The 2025 supplemental instructions for Forms W-2CM and OS-3710 print a different date for that same filing. They say to use them with the IRS general instructions for 2025 Forms W-2 and W-3. Form W-2CM is a five-part form for the Wage and Salary Tax, the NMTIT, or federal income tax if that is required. Copies go to the CNMI Division of Revenue and Taxation and to the Social Security Administration. Copy 1 must be attached to Form OS-3710, the Annual Reconciliation of Taxes Withheld, and filed with the Division no later than March 2, 2026. That March 2 date is the date on the 2025 supplemental. It is not a standing date the January 2023 guidelines printed. The guidelines say February 28 of the following year. The 2025 supplemental says March 2, 2026. Use the Division’s current instruction for the tax year you are filing. Do not pick one date and hide the other.

The same 2025 supplemental says Copy A goes to the Social Security Administration with Form W-3SS no later than February 2, 2026. Copies 2 and B go to the employee no later than February 2, 2026. Those February 2 dates are dates on the 2025 forms. They are not dates the January 2023 guidelines printed.

The supplemental says a failure to file a correct Form W-2CM can bring a penalty under section 6721. The amounts it prints apply to filings due after December 31, 2025. The penalty is $60 per form if you correct it within 30 days, with a yearly maximum of $683,000, or $239,000 for a small business. It is $130 per form if you correct it more than 30 days after the due date but by August 1, with a yearly maximum of $2,049,000, or $683,000 for a small business. It is $340 per form if you file after August 1, file no corrections, or do not file, with a yearly maximum of $4,098,500, or $1,366,000 for a small business. The supplemental points exceptions to the IRS 2025 general instructions. Do not treat these dollar amounts as the penalty on a late Form OS-3705. Form OS-3705 does not print a dollar. Do not treat these amounts as the penalty for every later year.

Box 2 is income tax, the NMTIT, withheld. Box 17 is local wage and salary tax withheld, which is Chapter 2. Box 16 is CNMI wages and salary. The supplemental says to enter all money and the value of other consideration for services in the Commonwealth, and it cites 4 CMC § 1103(dd). It says that amount includes boxes 1, 12a through 12d, and 14 unless an item is exempted under 4 CMC § 1103(dd)(1) through (7). A cost-of-living allowance may exclude only the housing portion. That is what the supplemental says. Box 15 is the CNMI taxpayer identification number the Division issues. It starts with 99 and then seven digits. Box A is the work location: Saipan is 20, Rota is 21, Tinian is 22, and the Northern Islands are 23. Box C is the citizenship code. The supplemental points to the 2025 Publication IOC on the Division forms page. Box D is the six-digit industry code from the census NAICS site. Box E is the eight-digit occupation code from O*NET. Box F, the visa type, says do not leave it blank. Enter US for a U.S. citizen or national, FAS for a citizen of the Federated States of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, or Palau, LPR for a lawful permanent resident, and EAD for an employment authorization document. Common visa types on the supplemental include CW1, E1, E2, E2C, E3, F1, H1B, H2B, J1, and R1. The State Department visa directory is a reference only.

Form OS-3710 is a single-part form filed once a year with Copy 1 of the 2025 Form W-2CM. Paper is still required even if you also file magnetically or electronically. The federal employer identification number comes from the IRS. The CNMI taxpayer identification number comes from the Division. Column 1A is Chapter 2, column 1B is Chapter 7 NMTIT, and column 1C is wages, by quarter. Reconcile those columns to the 2025 Forms OS-3705. The supplemental says a discrepancy delays the employee’s Form W-2CM and the annual return. It calls withholding “trust fund” money that you remit quarterly or on another regular basis. If you have 10 or more Forms W-2CM, you must file them on electronic media. The supplemental points to the Division’s electronic-filing publication. Fewer than 10 forms may still be filed electronically. For the CNMI filing, paper is still required even when you file on electronic media. A penalty applies if you were required to file electronically and did not. Publication 15 says employers in the CNMI should contact the local tax department for instructions on Form W-2CM, and that the form and its instructions are at Finance.gov.mp/forms.php or by calling 670-664-1000.

Social Security and Medicare apply. Federal unemployment tax does not.

Publication 15 for 2026 is used by all employers, including employers in the U.S. territories. It says Publication 80, the federal tax guide for employers in the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, has been discontinued, along with Publications 51 and 179. References to Form W-2 include Form W-2CM. References to federal income-tax withholding do not apply to an employer in the CNMI unless you have employees who are subject to U.S. income-tax withholding. For territorial income-tax withholding, contact the local tax department. That sentence does not turn off Social Security and Medicare. The Division separately tells you to use Publication 15-T to figure the Chapter 7 mirror, and to pay that Chapter 7 tax to the Division. That is not a payment of federal income-tax withholding to the IRS.

The 2026 guide prints the Social Security and Medicare rates. Social Security tax is 6.2 percent for the employer and 6.2 percent for the employee. The Social Security wage base limit is $184,500. Medicare tax is 1.45 percent for the employee and 1.45 percent for the employer. There is no wage base limit for Medicare tax. The same guide has a CNMI sentence about workers from the Philippines. Employers must withhold and pay Social Security and Medicare on wages paid to residents of the Philippines who do not hold H-2 status for services in the CNMI, unless an exemption in section 15 of the guide applies. The Social Security office the guide prints for the CNMI is the MH II Building, Suite 201, Marina Heights Business Park, Saipan, MP 96950.

The quarterly federal employment-tax return changed after 2023. The 2025 instructions for Form 944 say Form 941-SS, the old quarterly return for American Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, was discontinued after the fourth quarter of 2023. An employer in those territories who was not told to file Form 944 files Form 941, or Form 941 (sp) if you want the Spanish form. The same instructions say Publications 51, 80, and 179 were discontinued after 2023.

About Publication 80 says Publication 80 will no longer be revised. The IRS employment-tax publications page says Publications 51, 80, and 179 have not been updated since 2023, and that their information is in Publication 15 starting with the 2024 version. Open Publication 15 for the 2026 federal employment-tax rules.

Federal unemployment tax is the sharp contrast with Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Publication 15 says FUTA tax does not apply to employers in American Samoa, Guam, and the CNMI. It does apply to employers in the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. The IRS page on persons employed in a U.S. possession, last reviewed July 23, 2026, puts the CNMI in the group of territories that have their own governments and their own tax systems, with Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, and American Samoa. Among the employers in the territories that page lists, only wages paid to U.S. citizens, resident aliens, and nonresident aliens employed in Puerto Rico or the U.S. Virgin Islands are subject to FUTA under the same conditions as employment in the United States. The CNMI is in the self-governing list. It is not in that Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands sentence. Do not copy a Virgin Islands or Puerto Rico federal-unemployment teaching table onto the Northern Mariana Islands. Do not print a federal unemployment percent as if it were a CNMI tax.

The cited pages do not print a territorial unemployment tax.

The Division withholding guidelines, Form OS-3705, and Form 500-WH do not print an employer unemployment tax, a wage base, or a new-employer percent. The Department of Labor Employment Services flyer is about hiring, not about an unemployment-tax account. It says employers must make a good-faith effort to hire citizens, CNMI permanent residents, and U.S. permanent residents. It says file Employer Declarations for all job applicants within 14 days of the vacancy publication. It says submit a workforce plan each year if you employ nonimmigrant aliens, and report a census of employment each quarter. The phones are 670-664-3190 and 670-322-0996. The office is Building 1323, Capitol Hill, Saipan 96950. The site is labor.cnmi.gov. That flyer does not print an unemployment tax, a wage base, or a new-employer percent. The 14-day line is a job-applicant declaration. It is not a new-hire report to a child-support directory.

The Department of Labor employer registration page at marianaslabor.net says the system is for CNMI and U.S. residents and for citizens of the freely associated states. A visit from outside those areas is restricted. The page shows the visitor’s IP address and a contact link. It does not print a registration fee. It does not print an unemployment-tax rate.

A secondary vendor table is not that law. PaycheckCity’s 2025 Northern Mariana Islands page says the territory has a mirror-code tax system. It also prints a supplemental wage and bonus rate of 22 percent. The Division guidelines do not print 22 percent. Publication 15 says federal withholding references do not apply to a CNMI employer unless the employee is subject to U.S. withholding. The same PaycheckCity page says to register as an employer on the CNMI Department of Commerce website. The primary withholding office in the Division guidelines is Revenue and Taxation, not Commerce. The same page says Northern Mariana unemployment insurance follows FUTA. That sentence conflicts with Publication 15, which says FUTA tax does not apply to a CNMI employer. Do not enter a territorial unemployment wage base from that line. The same table prints None for state disability insurance, None for family leave insurance, and None for local taxes. Those None lines are what the software page says. They are not a Division unemployment statute.

A new hire is a local-government question. The federal background rule is 20 days.

Publication 15 says all 50 states, and most territories, have a new-hire registry. Report an employee who has not worked for you before, or who was separated for at least 60 days in a row. Employers in American Samoa, Guam, the CNMI, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico should contact the local government for the new-hire registry. Publication 15 does not print a day count for the Northern Mariana Islands.

42 U.S.C. § 653a is the federal background rule. The report is due not later than 20 days after the employer hires the employee. A magnetic or electronic file is two monthly transmissions, not less than 12 days and not more than 16 days apart. The report is a Form W-4 or an equivalent, and it may go by first-class mail. That federal sentence is not a day count the Division guidelines, the Department of Labor registration page, or the Employment Services flyer printed for the CNMI. Do not paste Guam’s 20-day report to the Director of New Hires onto the Northern Mariana Islands. Do not paste California’s registration clock onto this report.

PaycheckCity prints a new-hire address at the Office of the Attorney General, 2nd Floor, Hon. Juan A. Sablan Memorial Building, Caller Box 10007, Capitol Hill, Saipan, MP 96950, phone 670-237-7500, fax 670-664-2349. That address is on the vendor page. It is not on the Division guidelines, the Department of Labor registration page, or the Employment Services flyer. Use it only as a secondary address, and confirm it with the local office before you mail a report there.

Workplace injury insurance starts with the first employee. Form WCC-100 is due in 30 days.

The Workers’ Compensation Commission handbook, “What You Need to Know About The CNMI Workers’ Compensation Program,” says to read it with Title 4, Division 9, Chapter 3. The employer buys the coverage and pays the whole premium. Taking the premium out of an employee’s pay is a misdemeanor, with a fine of not more than $1,000. The carrier must be licensed by the Insurance Commissioner at the Department of Commerce. Coverage should take effect when you hire the first employee. The term is generally one year. For a worker hired from outside the CNMI, the handbook says the rules make coverage effective when the employee arrives in the Commonwealth. The handbook also says every person, firm, or company must secure coverage the moment it becomes an employer. The certificate of compliance is Form WCC-100. File it with the Administrator within 30 days of becoming an employer, or when you renew the policy. The form is available at the Department of Commerce and Workers’ Compensation Commission offices in Saipan, Tinian, and Rota.

If local carriers will not write the policy, the handbook says to submit a letter of denial from at least three local carriers. The Administrator may waive penalties and may authorize coverage elsewhere. The Saipan office on the handbook is P.O. Box 5795 CHRB, Saipan, MP 96950, phones (670) 664-8018 and (670) 664-8024, fax (670) 664-8074, First Floor, NMIRF Building, Capitol Hill. Tinian is San Jose Village, Tinian, MP 96952, phone (670) 433-0853, fax (670) 433-0854. Rota is Songsong Village, Rota, MP 96951, phone (670) 532-9478, fax (670) 532-9510. The live Commission page on the Department of Commerce site lists Form WCC-100 as the certificate of compliance for employers’ insurance coverage. It also links a tariff and underwriting manual published July 15, 2003. That 2003 manual is not a 2026 premium. The page prints office hours of 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Thursday. The handbook does not print those hours. Some widgets on the page say “Content Coming Soon” while the forms list is posted. None of these pages names a 2026 premium dollar. Use the policy a licensed carrier writes for your shop.

The 2008 Law Revision Commission print of the workers’ compensation chapter is the statute text to read next to the handbook. Section 9302(l) says an employee is a person in service under an appointment or a contract of hire. It includes aquacultural and agricultural workers. It excludes purely casual work that is not for the employer’s trade, an unpaid corporate director, an independent contractor, and household domestic service in a private dwelling. Section 9302(m) says an employer is any person, corporate or unincorporate, public or private, who employs others for wages, salaries, or other remuneration. It excludes a person who hires an independent contractor for a specified result. Section 9304(a) says every employer shall be liable for and shall secure the payment of compensation under sections 9307, 9308, and 9309. Payment is due irrespective of fault. In construction or garment manufacturing, the contractor secures payment for a subcontractor’s employees unless the subcontractor has secured it.

Section 9306 says a disability benefit is paid for one week in advance on the fourth day after the date of disability, and that disability benefits shall not exceed $140 per week. That $140 is the text of the 2008 code print. It is not a 2026 carrier premium. The handbook also says cash benefits for lost wages start when disability exceeds three days, at 66 and two-thirds percent of average weekly wages, not to exceed $140 a week.

Section 9341(a) says every employer, except those exempted by subsection (c), secures payment by insuring with an insurer that has a certificate of authority to transact general casualty insurance. The Commonwealth government may pay from the Government Employee’s Self-insurance Fund and need not otherwise secure payment. Section 9341(b) says an employer who pays more than half of an employee’s medical insurance secures the section 9307 medical benefit only to the extent the medical insurance does not cover it. Section 9341(c) lets an employer whose principal place of business is outside the CNMI, with a policy at least equal to CNMI benefits, apply for an exemption. Section 9341(d) says a letter of refusal from at least three authorized carriers may allow an unlicensed carrier, and if coverage is still unavailable the commission sets self-insurance procedures by regulation. Section 9341(e) says an employer with at least 200 employees may elect self-insurance under commission rules.

The handbook and the statute do not say the same thing about self-insurance. The handbook says the CNMI government is the only employer authorized by law to be self-insured. Section 9341(e) says a private employer with at least 200 employees may elect self-insurance. Keep both sentences. Do not pick a winner the pages do not pick.

The special disability fund is also two sentences. The handbook says carriers pay 2 percent of the workers’ compensation premium into that fund, remitted quarterly. Section 9341(f) says an employer authorized to self-insure under subsection (d), or who elects self-insurance under subsection (e), pays into the fund an amount equal to one percent of total salaries, not to exceed $1,500, each quarter. The 2 percent is on the carrier’s premium. The 1 percent cap is on the self-insured employer’s salaries. They are different payers. Keep both.

Section 9343 says post a notice. Failure to post is a civil penalty of $100. That $100 is the posting penalty. It is not the certificate penalty. Section 9345(b) says a policy is not canceled until at least 30 days after notice to the administrator and the employer. Section 9346 says every employer required to secure or renew coverage shall file a certificate of compliance with the administrator within 30 days of becoming an employer, or of the renewal. The form is prescribed by the commission. Failure to file within 30 days is a civil penalty of $100. The Secretary of Commerce shall not approve or renew a business license without the administrator’s certification of compliance. A commission comment on that section points to Executive Order 94-3, effective August 23, 1994, which reorganized titles. The comment does not rename the office for you.

Section 9347(a) says failure to secure payment is a civil fine of not more than $100 per day. The assessment does not start until 30 days after the first written notice. Section 9347(b) says the criminal penalty is a misdemeanor, a fine of not more than $1,000, or imprisonment of not more than one year, or both. The president, secretary, and treasurer of a corporation can be liable. Do not fold the $100 certificate penalty, the $100-a-day failure-to-secure fine, and the $1,000 misdemeanor into one number.

The office name also conflicts. Section 9302(a) says the Administrator is the administrator of the Northern Mariana Islands Retirement Fund, or a designee of that administrator. The handbook says the Administrator is also the Secretary of the Department of Commerce, and that the program sits in the Department of Commerce. The live page is the Department of Commerce Workers’ Compensation Commission. Keep both names. Do not collapse them into one office the pages do not equate.

An injury report is a different clock from the certificate. The handbook says file Form WCC-203A or WCC-203B with the Administrator within 10 days after the employer knows of the injury, illness, or death. Form WCC-200A or WCC-200B is the medical authorization. The employee’s notice, Form WCC-202, is within 30 days of the injury. That employee notice is not the employer’s 10-day report. Form WCC-206, the controversion, is due on or before the 14th day. Do not mix those clocks with the 30-day Form WCC-100.

How Gusto and Patriot describe the Northern Mariana Islands

Confirm the two withholding taxes with the Division of Revenue and Taxation. Confirm Form OS-3705, Form 500-WH, Form OS-3710, and Form W-2CM. Confirm Social Security and Medicare on Publication 15. Confirm that federal unemployment tax does not apply, and that the cited Finance and Labor pages do not print a territorial unemployment tax. Confirm the new-hire report with the local government. The Division pages cited here do not print a local day count. Confirm the workplace-injury policy with a carrier licensed by the Insurance Commissioner, and file Form WCC-100 with the Administrator. The payroll vendor does not sell that policy.

Gusto’s payroll terms say the payroll service is available in the United States, excluding U.S. territories. They also say the business must be registered in the United States, excluding U.S. territories, and the bank account must be there too. Gusto’s add-employees article says Gusto does not support employees living in U.S. territories, and it names Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The Northern Mariana Islands is a U.S. territory. The article does not give the Northern Mariana Islands its own heading. Gusto’s state-registration hub is the state-registration list published next to those terms. The payroll terms already exclude U.S. territories. Those terms do not walk through the Division of Revenue and Taxation, Form OS-3705, Form W-2CM, or Form WCC-100. See Gusto on the directory.

Patriot’s new-employer page by state is a table of registration articles. The table lists the 50 states and the District of Columbia. The Northern Mariana Islands is not in the table. Guam is not in the table. Puerto Rico is not in the table. The U.S. Virgin Islands is not in the table. American Samoa is not in the table. The page does not link a Northern Mariana Islands registration article. Patriot does not claim, on that page, to open a Division of Revenue and Taxation withholding account or a Workers’ Compensation Commission policy. See Patriot on the directory.

The gap is the grade. For a first hire in the Northern Mariana Islands, these two vendors’ published registration lists do not take the Division of Revenue and Taxation file, the federal employment-tax file, or the workplace-injury policy off your desk. You still withhold Chapter 2 and Chapter 7 and send them to the Division. You still handle Social Security and Medicare. You still do not treat federal unemployment tax as if the CNMI were Puerto Rico or the U.S. Virgin Islands. You still ask the local government about the new-hire report. You still put the workplace-injury policy in place from the first employee and file Form WCC-100 within 30 days. A vendor checklist for a state is not a CNMI account.

What still sits on the employer

• Withhold Chapter 2, the Wage and Salary Tax, and Chapter 7, the Northern Mariana Territorial Income Tax, and send both to the Division of Revenue and Taxation in the Department of Finance. They do not go to the IRS. Chapter 7 starts from Publication 15-T. Chapter 2 is a non-refundable credit against that Chapter 7 amount. The January 2023 guidelines use a biweekly example of $1,200 gross, $84 of Chapter 2, $131 computed Chapter 7, and $47 of actual Chapter 7. That example is a teaching row. It is not a 2026 rate sheet. The office mail box is P.O. Box 5234 CHRB, Saipan, MP 96950. The phone is (670) 664-1000.
• Use the January 2023 paycheck table for the period you pay. Weekly wages reach 9 percent at $961.56. Biweekly wages reach 9 percent at $1,923.12. Semi-monthly wages reach 9 percent at $2,083.38. Monthly wages reach 9 percent at $4,166.75. Each table starts at 0 percent and steps through 2 percent to 8 percent. The 2024 Form NMI-A annual table is a different scale, from 0 on the first $1,000 to 9.0 percent above $50,000.01, and the last row prints “And and.” Schedule OS-3405A’s April 15, 2025 date is the individual return. Do not use it as the employer reconciliation date. Do not enter 22 percent as a Division rate.
• File Form OS-3705, revised October 2015, by April 30, July 31, October 31, and January 31. Pay any balance to the Division. Make the check payable to “CNMI TREASURER.” The form says a late file or a late payment is billed for penalty and interest. It does not print a dollar. Deposit on Form 500-WH, revised May 2021, when undeposited Chapter 2 and Chapter 7 reach $500. From $500 through $2,500, deposit by the 15th of the next month. Over $2,500 inside one quarter, deposit within 3 working days. Over $2,500 that crosses a quarter, make two deposits within 3 working days. Under $500, no deposit is required, and the last payroll of the quarter is paid on Form OS-3705. This is not Guam’s Form 500 and it is not Guam’s $50,000 lookback.
• File Form OS-3710 with Copy 1 of Form W-2CM. The January 2023 guidelines say February 28 of the following year. The 2025 supplemental says March 2, 2026. Use the instruction for the tax year you are filing. The 2025 supplemental says employee copies and the Social Security Administration copy are due February 2, 2026. Those are 2025-form dates. Paper is still required for the CNMI even if you also file electronically. Ten or more Forms W-2CM must go on electronic media. Box 2 is NMTIT withheld. Box 17 is Chapter 2 withheld. The section 6721 amounts on the supplemental apply to filings due after December 31, 2025. They are not the blank penalty line on Form OS-3705.
• Withhold and pay Social Security and Medicare. For 2026, Publication 15 prints 6.2 percent each for Social Security, on a wage base of $184,500, and 1.45 percent each for Medicare, with no Medicare wage base. The guide also says to withhold those taxes on wages paid to residents of the Philippines who work in the CNMI and do not hold H-2 status, unless a section 15 exemption applies. File Form 941 unless the IRS told you to file Form 944. Form 941-SS stopped after the fourth quarter of 2023. Publication 80 will no longer be revised. Publication 15 says federal income-tax withholding references do not apply to a CNMI employer unless the employee is subject to U.S. withholding. The Chapter 7 mirror is still paid to the Division.
• Do not file federal unemployment tax for a CNMI employer on the strength of a Puerto Rico or U.S. Virgin Islands example. Publication 15 says FUTA tax does not apply to employers in the CNMI. The IRS possession page limits the same-conditions FUTA rule to wages paid in Puerto Rico or the U.S. Virgin Islands. The Division forms and the Labor Employment Services flyer do not print a territorial unemployment tax, a wage base, or a new-employer percent. PaycheckCity’s line that unemployment insurance follows FUTA conflicts with Publication 15. Do not enter a wage base from that line.
• Ask the local government where the new-hire report goes. Publication 15 says to contact the local government and does not print a CNMI day count. The federal background rule in 42 U.S.C. § 653a is 20 days after hire, or two electronic transmissions 12 to 16 days apart. The Division guidelines, the Labor registration page, and the Employment Services flyer do not print that day count as a CNMI clock. The Employment Services 14-day line is an employer declaration for job applicants. It is not this report. PaycheckCity’s Attorney General address in Caller Box 10007 is a secondary address. It is not printed on those government pages.
• Secure workplace injury insurance when you hire the first employee. File Form WCC-100 with the Administrator within 30 days of becoming an employer, and again at renewal. Section 9346 prints a civil penalty of $100 for a late certificate. Section 9343 prints a separate $100 civil penalty for a missing posted notice. Section 9347 prints a civil fine of not more than $100 a day for failing to secure payment, starting 30 days after the first written notice, and a misdemeanor fine of not more than $1,000. The carrier must be licensed by the Insurance Commissioner. The 2008 code says the Administrator is the Retirement Fund administrator or a designee. The handbook says the Administrator is the Secretary of Commerce. The live page is the Department of Commerce commission. The handbook says only the government may self-insure. Section 9341(e) says an employer with at least 200 employees may elect self-insurance. The handbook’s 2 percent of premium is a carrier charge. Section 9341(f)’s 1 percent of salaries, capped at $1,500 a quarter, is the self-insured employer’s payment. Section 9306’s $140 a week is statute text in the 2008 print. It is not a 2026 premium. The July 15, 2003 tariff on the Commerce page is not a 2026 premium either.
• Do not copy another jurisdiction’s clock onto the Northern Mariana Islands. The territory does not use California’s $100-in-a-quarter test or a 15-day California registration clock. The territory does not use the U.S. Virgin Islands Form 501-VI deposit, the Virgin Islands unemployment wage base, or Virgin Islands federal unemployment tax. The territory does not use Puerto Rico’s SURI account or Puerto Rico’s $7,000 unemployment cap. The territory does not use American Samoa’s December 31, 2000 freeze or its 2 percent wage tax. The territory does not use Guam’s Form W-1, Guam’s Form 500, or Guam’s 20-day report to the Director of New Hires. The territory does not use the District of Columbia’s Form FR-500 or the District’s 2.7 percent unemployment rate.

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