Employer guideRead at source September 28, 2026

Illinois New Hire Reporting: Deadline, Contractors, Penalties and How to File (2026)

Illinois employers must report every new hire within 20 days to the Illinois Department of Employment Security, online through the HFS New Hire Reporting website or by email, fax or mail. Since January 1, 2024 the requirement includes independent contractors. The penalty is $15 per individual not reported, and it applies only after IDES has notified you and 21 days pass without the missing report.

Illinois new hire reporting at a glance

Illinois changed its rules recently. A 2023 amendment (Public Act 103-343, effective January 1, 2024) pulled independent contractors into the reporting duty, and at least one older state page, the HFS employer FAQ, has not caught up. If you last set up new hire reporting before 2024, compare your process with the statute below and with our federal new hire reporting overview.

The information Illinois asks for

Section 1801.1(B) of the Unemployment Insurance Act requires the federal core and nothing more:

• About the worker: name (first, middle and last), home address, Social Security number, and the date services for pay were first performed.
• About the employer: name, address and FEIN, using the name and address associated with that FEIN.
• Optional: a different address where you want income withholding orders mailed. HFS asks you to include it if you have not given it before.

The IDES paper form adds one checkbox per worker: "Is new hire an independent contractor?" That checkbox is the practical sign of the 2024 change.

Five ways to file an Illinois report

• Online: registered employers can complete the web form or upload a file on the HFS New Hire Reporting website.
• sFTP: call (888) 245-1938 for login credentials and the file layout.
• IDES New Hire Reporting Form: email it to DES.NewHireReports@Illinois.gov, fax it to (217) 557-1947 (a 24-hour line), or mail it to IDES New Hire, 115 S. LaSalle St, Chicago, IL 60603-3820.
• A copy of the W-4, completed legibly with the employer section filled in, sent the same three ways. The statute says reports should, to the extent practicable, be made on a W-4 or an equivalent form.
• A separate list of new employees with the required data, sent the same three ways.

HFS repeats a rule of thumb worth keeping on the wall of any onboarding room: if the employee fills out a W-4, report the employee.

When the 20 days start

The statute gives employers until "not later than 20 days after the date the employer hires the employee." The required data element is the date services for pay were first performed, and HFS describes the date of hire as the employee's first day of work for pay. For a high-volume Illinois operation that difference matters. A distribution center that makes offers on Friday for a Monday start, then sees a third of that class reschedule, should be keying the report to each person's actual first paid shift. If you transmit electronically, the alternative is two monthly transmissions, not less than 12 nor more than 16 days apart.

Independent contractors: required since 2024

Section 1801.1(D) now defines a newly hired employee as an employee within the meaning of Chapter 24 of the Internal Revenue Code "including an individual under an independent contractor arrangement." IDES's reporting page and its form both say the same thing: report each new hire, including independent contractors, within 20 days. The statute sets no dollar threshold, so the safe reading is that every new contractor arrangement is reportable.

Penalties: $15, and only after notice

Section 1801.1(C) sets a civil penalty of $15 for each individual an employer knowingly fails to report. "Knowingly" has a specific meaning here: IDES must first notify you that you failed to report someone, and the penalty applies if you then fail, without reasonable cause, to supply the information within 21 days after that notice was mailed. Separately, any individual who knowingly conspires with a new employee to skip the report, or to file a false or incomplete one, commits a Class B misdemeanor with a fine of up to $500 for each employee involved. The $15 figure sits below the $25 per-failure cap that federal law lets states set.

Rehires, returning seasonal staff and leave

A returning worker counts as newly hired if they have been separated from your employment for at least 60 consecutive days. HFS lists the causes: layoff, furlough, medical leave, leave of absence or separation, where the employee has been off the payroll for 60 consecutive days or more. For a shorter gap the statute makes reporting optional: an employer "may, at its option" report any rehired employee the same way. Reporting every return removes the need to count days. Temporary agencies report their own placed workers; the business where the worker is placed does not.

Unions and hiring halls follow a similar split. Under the HFS FAQ, a labor organization reports its own staff, and a hiring hall that only refers members for work files nothing for those referrals. If the organization actually pays the people it refers, it is their employer and reports them. The employer who puts a referred worker on its own payroll reports that worker.

Multistate employers

An Illinois employer that files electronically and has employees in another state may report every new hire to a single designated state, after notifying the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in writing. HFS notes that the federal multistate registry now lives in the Child Support Portal's Employer Information Update application. The rest of the mechanics are on our new hire reporting requirements page.

Hiring in Illinois

For wage and hour rules that sit alongside reporting, see our Illinois labor laws hub and the current Illinois minimum wage. Our new hire forms checklist and Form I-9 requirements page cover the paperwork on day one. Boostpoint's part comes earlier: we run social job ads on Facebook and Instagram for frontline roles. In our 2026 Social Job Advertising Benchmark (891 Boostpoint-managed campaigns on Meta) the median campaign cost $13.88 per applicant in ad spend, across all states; the benchmark does not break out Illinois.

Frequently asked questions