Employer guideRead at source September 28, 2026

Arkansas New Hire Reporting: Deadline, What to Report and How to File in Tax21 (2026)

Arkansas employers must report each new or rehired employee within 20 days of hire to the State New Hire Registry at the Division of Workforce Services, online through the Tax21 portal. Independent contractors are not reportable, and neither the statute (Ark. Code § 11-10-902) nor the DWS material we read sets a penalty. Rehires count once they have been gone 60 consecutive days.

Arkansas new hire reporting at a glance

Arkansas follows the federal pattern closely, so most of this page is about the practical edges: which system to log into, how the 60-day rehire rule catches seasonal and recalled workers, and why a missing penalty is not the same as a missing consequence. For how Arkansas compares with the other states, see our new hire reporting requirements by state.

What goes on an Arkansas new hire report

Section 11-10-902 of the Arkansas Code asks for the employee's name, address and Social Security number, the date the employee began performing services for the employer, and the employer's name, address and federal taxpayer identification number. That is the federal list of seven. The federal Office of Child Support Services state contact guide (entry updated March 22, 2025) adds one more mandatory field for Arkansas and a few optional ones:

• Mandatory: employee name, address and SSN; first day of work; state of hire; employer name and address; FEIN.
• Optional: employee date of birth; employer phone number, fax number and email address.

The Division of Workforce Services (DWS) Employer Handbook describes the population in plain terms: any employee who fills out a W-4, whether full-time, part-time or a student worker, must be reported. If the worker completed a W-4, they belong on the report.

Filing through Tax21

Arkansas moved its New Hire Registry into Tax21, the same DWS portal employers use for unemployment insurance accounts and quarterly wage reports. The DWS employer newsletter announcing the change called it the first step toward a single employer portal. If your company already files quarterly contribution reports in Tax21, new hire reporting sits beside them; first-time users are pointed to a separate set of directions for creating a user account and reporting new hires.

DWS strongly suggests electronic reporting, either keying hires into the website or transmitting a data file produced by your HR or payroll software. The federal guide also lists mail, fax and payroll-service filing for Arkansas, with a mailing address of P.O. Box 8007, Little Rock, AR 72203. It does not print a fax number, and none of the DWS pages we read gave one, so call the registry before faxing anything.

The 20-day clock and the date that starts it

The statute's wording is that the report must be received not later than 20 days after the date the employer hires the employee. The report itself carries the date the employee began performing services, which matches the federal definition of date of hire: the first day the person works for pay. Employers transmitting magnetically or electronically may instead send two monthly transmissions, if necessary, not less than 12 nor more than 16 days apart.

For frontline hiring, the gap between an accepted offer and a first shift is where reports go wrong. A warehouse or poultry-plant hire can accept on Monday, miss orientation, and start the following week; the report should carry the day they actually clocked in. The newsletter is explicit that an employee is reported even if they work only one day and are terminated before the report goes in, so a no-show after day one still generates a report.

Independent contractors in Arkansas

Arkansas does not require contractor reporting. The federal guide answers "No" for independent contractor reporting in Arkansas, and § 11-10-902 defines a reportable employee by reference to the Internal Revenue Code's wage-withholding chapter, which leaves out true 1099 contractors. The practical question is classification, not reporting: someone you treat as a contractor but who fills out a W-4 is an employee and must be reported.

Penalties for late or missing reports

We found no civil penalty in Ark. Code § 11-10-902, and the DWS handbook and newsletter describe the duty without naming a fine. Federal law allows a state to set one of up to $25 per failure, but Arkansas has not published one in the sources we read. The consequence that does apply is operational. Under Arkansas's child support rule, 9 CAR § 2-1202, when a reported hire matches an open child support case, an income withholding notice, and a National Medical Support Notice if appropriate, must be sent to the employer within two business days. A late report only delays that notice; your payroll team still processes it.

Rehired, recalled and temporary workers

Arkansas publishes a rehire threshold, and it sits in the statute itself. A former employee is reportable when they return after being separated for at least 60 consecutive days. The DWS newsletter adds two points that matter for seasonal employers:

• Recalled workers: the rule covers employees who return to work after any type of separation 60 consecutive days after the initial separation, including anyone who stayed on the payroll during a break in service or gap in pay.
• Temporary staff: a temp agency reports a worker once, when they report for an assignment. They are not re-reported for each new client, but they are reported again as a rehire after a break in service or gap in pay.

A harvest crew, a school-year food service team or a holiday warehouse shift that comes back each year will usually clear the 60-day mark, so plan the report into your recall checklist. Our rehire policy guide covers the HR side of bringing people back.

Employers with staff in more than one state

The DWS handbook says a multistate employer may report hires to the state where each employee works, or pick one state for all hires. Choosing one state requires electronic reporting and a registration with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The national new hire reporting guide walks through that registration.

Hiring in Arkansas

New hire reporting is one step in a longer onboarding list. Our Arkansas labor laws guide covers pay frequency, final pay and the E-Verify rule for state government employers, and the Arkansas minimum wage page has the current rate. Every hire also needs a Form I-9, and our E-Verify requirements by state page shows who must use it.

Boostpoint runs Facebook and Instagram job ads for hourly roles such as warehouse, trucking, healthcare and plant work. Across our 2026 Social Job Advertising Benchmark (891 Boostpoint-managed campaigns on Meta), the median campaign cost $13.88 per applicant. That figure is advertising cost, not cost per hire, and the benchmark is not split by state.

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