Texas unemployment tax registration The TWC account, UTR, UTS, and TxUS

When you become liable

The TWC page on who needs a tax account lists the tests. You only need to meet one.

• Regular employers: $1,500 or more in total gross wages in a calendar quarter, or at least one employee during 20 different weeks in a calendar year. The weeks do not need to be in a row. Part-time workers count.
• Household employers: cash wages of $1,000 or more in a calendar quarter.
• Farm employers: three or more workers for 20 weeks or more in a year, or $6,250 or more in wages in a quarter.

The same page says you can also become liable under the federal unemployment law if you paid Texas wages. Some 501(c)(3) nonprofits become liable at four or more employees in 20 weeks.

Count carefully if you just hired one part-time person. 20 weeks is less than five months. A worker who started in July meets that test in late November even if their pay never reached $1,500 in a quarter.

The 10-day clock

TWC says to register within ten days of becoming liable under TUCA, the Texas Unemployment Compensation Act. The clock starts on the day you meet a test. For the 20-week test, that is the 20th week. For the $1,500 test, it is the payday that pushes the quarter over $1,500.

The Texas page on this site has the full first-hire setup, including the 20-day new-hire report to the Attorney General and workplace injury insurance, which is optional in Texas.

UTR to register, UTS to file

Texas splits the online work across two tools today. The TWC registration page explains it:

• Unemployment Tax Registration, or UTR, is where you open the account. It is free.
• Unemployment Tax Services, or UTS, is where you file wage reports and pay tax after that. TWC describes it as free for employers with 1,000 or fewer employees.

You can use the same user ID and password for both. That is why you see “TWC UTS” in searches. It is the filing side, not the sign-up.

How registration works

The registration page says the process takes about 20 minutes. UTR asks for ownership and payroll information. It saves your progress, and you can come back to an unfinished registration for up to a year. TWC links a list of the items you need. Gather them first.

Have your federal EIN, the Employer Identification Number from the IRS, before you start. Texas does not give you a separate state withholding number, because there is no state income tax on wages.

The page says that if you are liable, UTR tells you when you finish and gives you a TWC tax account number right away. TWC then mails an Employer Liability Notice in about two weeks. Keep that notice. Put the account number in your payroll software.

TxUS is coming

TWC is replacing both tools. Its TxUS announcement says the Texas Unemployment System will replace Unemployment Tax Services and Unemployment Tax Registration. When we checked, the page said the go-live date was still being set.

What TWC says will change:

• You create a new user ID and password. Your old login does not carry over.
• Setup asks three security questions. One asks for your last total and taxable wages filed with TWC, so keep your last report handy.
• Each user ID needs its own email address for two-step sign-in.
• Your TWC account number stays the same. Your reports, payments, and documents move over.
• If an agent or payroll company files for you, you get a new TWC Agent ID from them and add them in the new system.

TxUS does not replace Employer Benefit Services, the system for answering claims from former workers.

What you pay

The TWC tax rates page lists a 2026 new-employer rate of 2.70 percent for every industry group, on the first $9,000 of each worker’s pay. For one worker, that is at most $243 for the year. That is an example you can redo. TWC figures experience rates as of October 1 for the next calendar year, and the page says rate notices usually go out in December. Texas does not let you take this tax out of the worker’s pay. What is SUTA? explains how the rate and the wage base work together.

After you register

• File the quarterly wage report and pay the tax each quarter in UTS. TWC calls the report the Employer’s Quarterly Report.
• Report each new hire to the Texas Attorney General within 20 days. The Texas page has the link.
• Answer claim notices from TWC by the date on the notice.
• Watch for the TxUS launch and set up your new login before your next report is due.

If you also hire in another state

Other states use different tests. California’s is more than $100 in a quarter, with 15 days to register. California EDD employer registration covers it. Arkansas counts some work in ten days of a year. Arkansas Tax21 covers that one. How to register for state payroll taxes compares ten states.

Next step

Some payroll plans offer to register the TWC account for you. Check the plan’s help page first. The 10-day clock is still yours. The methodology page explains how we grade how much of the TWC side a product takes off your desk. Gusto is one plain link. Patriot is the other service on this site. Start with the Texas page for the full checklist.