Employer guideRead at source September 28, 2026
Mississippi New Hire Reporting: Deadline, What to Report and How to File (2026)
Mississippi employers must report each new hire and rehire to the Mississippi State Directory of New Hires within 15 days (Miss. Code Ann. § 43-19-46), five days sooner than the federal 20-day limit. File online at ms-newhire.com, by file transfer, or by fax or mail. Independent contractors are not required, and the civil penalty is up to $25 per unreported employee, or up to $500 where employer and employee conspire.
Mississippi new hire reporting at a glance
| Deadline | Within 15 days of the hiring, rehiring or return to work of the employee (Miss. Code Ann. § 43-19-46(2)) |
|---|---|
| Who must report | Every employer paying wages, salary or commission and doing business in Mississippi; the state site says no one is exempt |
| What to report | Nine employee fields and four employer fields, including date of birth, gender, salary, pay frequency and medical insurance eligibility |
| How to file | Online or file transfer at ms-newhire.com; fax (800) 937-8668; mail to P.O. Box 437, Norwell, MA 02061; W-4 or printed list accepted |
| Independent contractors | Not required; the directory accepts them voluntarily |
| Penalty | Up to $25 per failure; up to $500 if employer and employee conspire (§ 43-19-46(5)) |
| Agency | Mississippi State Directory of New Hires, Mississippi Department of Human Services; (800) 241-1330 |
Mississippi sits in the small group of states that run a clock shorter than the federal 20 days. For how it compares with every other state, see our new hire reporting requirements by state.
What goes on a Mississippi new hire report
Federal law asks for seven items: the employee's name, address, Social Security number and date of hire, and the employer's name, address and Federal Employer Identification Number (FEIN). Mississippi asks for considerably more. The directory lists these as required:
| Employee | Employer |
|---|---|
| Full name (first, middle, last) | FEIN, the same one used on quarterly wage reports |
| Mailing address | Name |
| Social Security number | Address |
| Date of hire | State EIN |
| Date of birth | Optional: phone, contact name, email, payroll country code |
| Gender | |
| Salary and payment frequency | |
| Medical insurance eligibility |
The statute itself names a shorter list: the employee's name, address, Social Security number and date of birth; the employer's name, address and federal and state withholding tax identification numbers; and the date the employee began or resumed work, or is scheduled to. The extra fields on the state form (gender, pay, pay frequency, insurance) are what the directory asks for, so the practical answer is to capture them at onboarding. The FEIN point matters more than it looks: the directory says a new hire filed under a different FEIN from your quarterly wage reports can make you look non-compliant on the federal cross-check it receives each quarter.
How to file in Mississippi
- Online: register and log in at ms-newhire.com. The site gives a printable confirmation and is available around the clock.
- File transfer: registered employers can upload new hire files through the site or by FTP, using the directory's electronic format.
- Fax: (800) 937-8668.
- Mail: Mississippi State Directory of New Hires, P.O. Box 437, Norwell, MA 02061. The Massachusetts address is the one the directory itself publishes.
- W-4: accepted, provided each form is readable and has the employer's name, FEIN and address written on it.
- Printed list: a payroll printout is accepted if it carries every required field in at least 10-point type, with employer name, FEIN and address at the top.
A payroll service can report for you. The help desk is at (800) 241-1330, staffed Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Mississippi time. One more Mississippi-specific item: the directory also asks employers to report lump-sum payments to employees before paying them out, through a separate module on the same site.
Fifteen days, counted from the first day of paid work
§ 43-19-46(2) reads: each employer shall submit reports within fifteen (15) days of the hiring, rehiring or return to work of the employee. The directory's own pages are not perfectly consistent with that. Its FAQ says 15 days of the hire date, while its Reporting Fundamentals page says 15 business days of the worker's first day on the job. The statute says days, not business days, so the safe reading is 15 calendar days. Electronic filers may instead send two transmissions a month, 12 to 16 days apart, according to the FAQ.
The date that starts the clock is the first day the employee performs services for pay, which is the federal definition the directory quotes on its Law page. For frontline hiring this is rarely the offer date. A certified nursing assistant who accepts on the 1st, finishes her background check on the 9th and works her first paid shift on the 12th has a Mississippi deadline of the 27th. If that start slips, the deadline moves with it, but only if someone updates the date in payroll.
Independent contractors in Mississippi
Not required. The directory's FAQ says it welcomes independent contractor reports but that employers are not required by law to submit them, and the federal contact guide records Mississippi as a no. Some compiled state tables list Mississippi as requiring contractor reports on recurring payments; we found nothing on the state's own site or in the statute to support that. Whether a worker is a contractor or an employee is an IRS test, and anyone who should be on a W-4 is reportable.
The Mississippi penalty
§ 43-19-46(5) sets an administratively levied civil penalty of not more than $25 for a failure to report, rising to not more than $500 where the failure results from a conspiracy between employer and employee to withhold the report or to supply a false or incomplete one. Appeals run under § 43-19-58. In practice the directory says it uses a quarterly federal report to spot employers who may be missing hires and may mail them compliance notices.
One statutory detail worth knowing: the 2025 Mississippi Code shows § 43-19-46 with a scheduled repeal date of July 1, 2027. The section's history shows it was reenacted without change in 2019 and again in 2023. Until the legislature says otherwise, the 15-day rule stands.
Rehires, recalls and seasonal returns
Mississippi publishes a specific rehire rule. The directory says employers must report anyone who returns to work after being laid off, furloughed, separated, granted leave without pay or terminated for at least 60 consecutive days. Temporary agencies report a worker once, not at every placement, but must report again after a break in service or gap in wages of 60 consecutive days or more. The directory's home page also asks employers to report staff who stayed on payroll through a gap in pay and then came back, naming teachers, substitutes and seasonal workers. For a poultry plant or a school district that brings the same people back every year, that is a list worth building into the return-to-work checklist. Our rehire policy guide covers the HR side.
Two edge cases the directory answers directly: an employee who works one day and quits must still be reported, and an employer that has never reported should start by reporting everyone hired in the last 180 days.
Employees in Mississippi and other states
A multistate employer can report Mississippi hires to Mississippi on the 15-day clock, or register with the federal Department of Health and Human Services and send all new hires electronically to one state where it has employees. The registration steps and the trade-offs are on our parent guide to new hire reporting.
Hiring in Mississippi
New hire reporting is one line on the onboarding checklist. The rest of the state picture is in our guides to Mississippi labor laws and the Mississippi minimum wage, and the federal paperwork that runs alongside the report is in our Form I-9 requirements guide. What Boostpoint does is the step before all of it: social job ads that put frontline roles in front of local workers on Facebook and Instagram. Across our 2026 Social Job Advertising Benchmark (891 Boostpoint-managed campaigns on Meta), the median campaign cost $13.88 per applicant; the benchmark is not split by state.
Frequently asked questions
How long do employers have to report new hires in Mississippi?
Fifteen days. Mississippi Code section 43-19-46 requires employers to report within 15 days of the hiring, rehiring or return to work of an employee, shorter than the 20-day federal limit. One page of the state site says 15 business days, but the statute says days, so plan on 15 calendar days counted from the first day the employee performs paid work.
Does Mississippi require reporting independent contractors?
No. The Mississippi State Directory of New Hires says it welcomes independent contractor reports but that employers are not required by law to submit them, and the federal state contact guide lists Mississippi as not requiring contractor reporting. Anyone who should be on a W-4 as an employee must be reported, including someone who works only one day.
Where do I report new hires in Mississippi?
To the Mississippi State Directory of New Hires. Register and report online or by file transfer at ms-newhire.com, fax reports to (800) 937-8668, or mail them to P.O. Box 437, Norwell, MA 02061. A readable W-4 with the employer name, FEIN and address written on it is accepted. The help desk number is (800) 241-1330.
What information does a Mississippi new hire report need?
More than the federal minimum. The directory requires the employee's full name, mailing address, Social Security number, date of hire, date of birth, gender, salary, payment frequency and medical insurance eligibility, plus the employer's FEIN, name, address and state EIN. Use the same FEIN you use on quarterly wage reports so the records match.
What is the penalty for not reporting a new hire in Mississippi?
Under section 43-19-46(5), the civil penalty is up to $25 for a failure to report. If the failure results from a conspiracy between the employer and the employee not to report, or to file a false or incomplete report, the penalty can be up to $500. The directory says it may mail compliance notices to employers who appear to be missing reports.
Do I have to report rehired or seasonal employees in Mississippi?
Yes, when they have been away long enough. The directory says to report employees returning after being laid off, furloughed, separated, on unpaid leave or terminated for at least 60 consecutive days. It also asks employers to report staff who stayed on payroll through a gap in pay and then returned, such as seasonal workers.
Fifteen days goes quickly when you are hiring every week
Mississippi's clock is short, and it runs once per hire. Employers who fill frontline roles all year feel that most. If the harder problem is getting enough qualified applicants to hire in the first place, talk to Boostpoint about social job ads built for the roles you fill.
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