California EDD employer registration The 15-day clock after $100 in wages

The rule: more than $100, then 15 days

The EDD page Am I required to register as an employer? says a business with employees must register within 15 days when it pays more than $100 in wages in a calendar quarter. That bar is very low. One part-time worker paid for a single day can pass it.

The 15 days start when you cross the line. Do not wait for the end of the quarter. Do not wait for your first quarterly return. If you plan to pay someone in December, plan to register in December.

Household employers use a different trigger. The same EDD page says a household employer registers within 15 days after paying cash wages of $750 or more in a calendar quarter. Farm, nonprofit, and government employers each have their own form and their own EDD guidance.

The California page on this site has the full first-hire setup, including workplace injury insurance, which is a separate job from EDD.

What one EDD account covers

California runs four payroll items through one EDD account:

• Unemployment insurance, paid by the employer.
• Employment Training Tax, a small employer tax on the same wages.
• State Disability Insurance, withheld from the worker.
• California personal income tax, withheld from the worker.

You do not open a second account with a different office for state income tax withholding. EDD handles both sides. Its form list even includes a DE 1P for employers who only deposit income tax withholding. That is different from most states, where withholding sits with the revenue department and unemployment sits with a labor agency. How to register for state payroll taxes shows how other states split the two.

Before you start

Get your federal EIN, the Employer Identification Number, from the IRS first. EDD’s registration step page says to include your federal EIN when you send a paper form. The page does not list every field in the online application. Have your legal business name, entity type, addresses, owners or officers, and the date you first paid more than $100 in a quarter close at hand, so you are not hunting for them halfway through.

How to register

The EDD registration step page says online is the fastest way.

1. Enroll in e-Services for Business.
2. Verify your email within 24 hours.
3. Log in, choose New Employer, and complete the application.

If you cannot register online, EDD takes the paper form by mail or fax. The step page says paper takes about 10 to 14 days, and longer for special coverage or exemptions. Mail goes to Account Services Group, MIC 28, PO Box 826880, Sacramento, CA 94280-0001.

Which DE 1 form fits you

The DE 1 is called the Commercial Employer Account Registration and Update Form. The online application asks the same questions in a different order.

The account number

EDD gives you an employer payroll tax account number. You will also see it called the State Employer Identification Number, SEIN, or State ID number. The step page says it has eight digits. Use it on every return, wage report, payment, and account change. It is not your federal EIN.

Put the number into your payroll software before the first payroll tax deposit is due. A software plan cannot file California returns without it.

What you pay

The EDD rates and withholding page lists these figures:

The State Disability Insurance rate rises to 1.4 percent on January 1, 2027. It comes out of the worker’s pay, with no cap on wages. Check that your software has the new rate before the first 2027 payday.

For a new employer, the unemployment math on one worker is 3.4 percent of $7,000, which is $238 for the year, plus $7 of training tax. That is an example you can redo with your own rate notice.

The new-hire report is separate

Registering does not report your workers. The EDD new-hire page says you report each new or rehired employee within 20 days of their first day of paid work. The form is the DE 34, Report of New Employee(s). You can file it in e-Services for Business. It needs your eight-digit EDD account number, so register first. Form I-9 and new-hire reporting covers the federal side of the first week.

What comes after registration

• Deposit withheld income tax and State Disability Insurance on the schedule EDD assigns.
• File the quarterly returns. California calls them the DE 9 and DE 9C.
• Report each new hire within 20 days on the DE 34.
• Keep the rate notice EDD mails and use that rate.

Next step

Some payroll plans offer to register the EDD account for you. Check the help page of the plan before you count on it. Even then, the 15-day clock is yours. The methodology page explains how we grade how much of this a product takes off your desk. Gusto is one plain link. Patriot is the other service on this site. The California page has the rest of the checklist. If you also hire in another state, Arkansas Tax21 shows how a state with a separate unemployment office works.