Arkansas Tax21 The employer unemployment and new-hire portal

What Tax21 is for

The Tax21 home page lists the jobs it handles. It calls the portal “UI tax registration and quarterly reporting.” UI means unemployment insurance. The page lists:

• Apply for an employer account number.
• Request a logon ID for online services.
• File and pay the quarterly contribution and wage report.
• New hire reporting.
• Ask that benefit claim papers go to a different address than tax papers.

A second login on the same page is for benefit claim notices, overpayment wage responses, and the Shared Work Program. Those are the replies you send when a former worker files a claim.

The Arkansas page on this site has the full first-hire setup, including the income tax side. That side sits with the Department of Finance and Administration on ATAP, the Arkansas Taxpayer Access Point. Tax21 is only the workforce side.

When you need a Tax21 account

The ADWS employer contributions page sets the test. You are an employer if you have one or more people working for some portion of ten or more days in a calendar year. The days do not need to be in a row. That is a low bar. One part-time worker for two weeks can meet it.

Household and farm employers use other tests. The same page says domestic work is exempt if you pay less than $1,000 in each calendar quarter. Farm work has a $20,000 quarter test and a ten-worker, 20-week test.

The ADWS employer handbook sets the clock. You submit Form DWS-ARK-201, the Report to Determine Liability, no later than the last day of the second month in which you meet the employer test. ADWS then decides if you owe and sends a notice. If you disagree with it, the handbook gives you twenty days from the mailing date to say so.

Registering for the employer account

On the Tax21 page, a new business picks “Register for DWS Employer Account” and then “Set Up Your User ID.” The state’s UI tax employer registration service calls this the EZ Tax Registration system. You submit your business information and get an Employer Account Number. The page lists no fee.

The handbook says the account number has nine digits. Put it on every report, payment, and letter you send ADWS. It is not your federal EIN, the Employer Identification Number from the IRS. You need the EIN first. How to register for state payroll taxes covers that order across states.

If you bought an existing business, read the successor rules first. The handbook says a successor employer is liable for unemployment tax right away, no matter how much it has paid in wages. If you buy the whole business and keep it running, the old rate and history move to you. So does any tax the old owner left unpaid.

The quarterly contribution and wage report

Once you have an account, you file a wage report every quarter. The handbook says you file it whether or not you paid wages in that quarter. A quarter with no payroll still needs a report.

The next one is the fourth-quarter 2026 report, due January 31, 2027. That date is a Sunday, and the handbook does not say whether a weekend moves it, so plan to file by Friday, January 29. You can file on Tax21 or on paper. The paper form is DWS-ARK-209B. The handbook also lists a version for reimbursable employers and one for seasonal industries. Employers with 250 or more workers must file on Tax21.

You pay with the report. The handbook says you can file and pay on Tax21, or mail payment to Employer Accounts Services in Little Rock.

What you pay

Arkansas taxes the first $7,000 of each worker’s pay in a calendar year, per the contributions page. The Arkansas page cites ADWS for a 2026 new-employer rate of 2.0 percent. On that rate, the most you pay for one worker in a year is $140. That is an example you can redo with the rate on your own notice.

The handbook says ADWS mails an Experience Rating Notice on or before February 1 each year with your rate for that year. You have thirty days from the mailing date to ask for a review. Enter that rate in your payroll software. Do not use a number from a vendor page. What is SUTA? explains how the rate and wage base work together.

What being late costs

The handbook lists the penalties for a late wage report on a tax-rated account:

• Up to 20 days late: $10 or 5 percent of the tax due, whichever is more.
• More than 20 days late: $20 or 10 percent of the tax due, whichever is more.
• Wages that must be estimated, missing information, or a missed e-file rule: $30 or 15 percent, whichever is more.

A payment not postmarked or received by the last day of the month after the quarter is late. Interest is 1.5 percent a month. A returned payment costs 10 percent of its face amount or $10, whichever is more.

There is a federal cost too. Your federal unemployment credit depends on paying state tax on time. Form 940 and FUTA tax covers that credit.

New-hire reports on Tax21

The new-hire report is a separate job from the wage report. Ark. Code § 11-10-902 says the report must be received no later than 20 days after the hire. It must list the worker’s name, address, Social Security number, and start date. It must list your name, address, and federal tax ID. A rehire counts only after a break of at least 60 days in a row.

The statute lets you send a copy of the worker’s Form W-4 or an equal form. Tax21 has its own new-hire directions for first-time users. The quarterly wage report does not count as the new-hire report. Form I-9 and new-hire reporting covers the federal side of the first week.

Changing or closing the account

The handbook says to file Form DWS-ARK-236, the Report to Terminate Account, if you close or sell the business. You can report a closed business in Tax21. Other changes, like a new address or owner, go to ADWS in writing within ten days. Keep filing reports until ADWS closes the account.

Where payroll software fits

Payroll software can file the wage report and pay the tax, on plans that say so in their help pages. It uses the rate and account number you enter. It does not open the Tax21 account for you unless the plan says it does. It does not answer benefit claim notices on the second Tax21 login. Those still come to you.

The methodology page explains how we grade that split for Arkansas and every other state. Gusto is one plain link. Patriot is the other service on this site. Start with the Arkansas page for the full checklist.