Employer guideRead at source September 28, 2026

Pennsylvania New Hire Reporting: Deadline, What to Report and How to File (2026)

Pennsylvania employers must report every newly hired or rehired employee to the Commonwealth directory of new hires no later than 20 days from the date of hire (23 Pa.C.S. § 4392(d)). File through PA CareerLink by web form, file upload or secure file transfer, or by fax or mail on the Commonwealth form. Independent contractors are not required. After a written warning, the civil penalty is up to $25 per violation, or $500 where employer and employee conspire.

Pennsylvania new hire reporting at a glance

Pennsylvania runs its directory through the Department of Labor & Industry and keeps the federal 20-day window. Its rehire rule is where it departs from the federal model. For the full state comparison, see new hire reporting requirements by state.

What Pennsylvania requires on each report

§ 4392(b) lists the content: the employee's name, home address, Social Security number and date of hire; the employer's name, address and FEIN; and the name and telephone number of an employer contact. That last item is the Pennsylvania addition to the federal seven, and it is in the statute, not only on a form. PA CareerLink's reporting requirements add rules for how the fields are filled:

• Employer street address: where income withholding orders should go. P.O. boxes are not accepted.
• Employer FEIN: if you have more than one, use the one on your quarterly payroll and wage report to the Commonwealth.
• Employee name: full legal name; nicknames are prohibited.
• Employee street address: no P.O. boxes.
• Social Security number: an Alien Registration number, I-94 number or visa number is not accepted in its place.
• Date of hire: cannot be more than three years old or more than 30 days in the future when submitted.
• State of hire: required for all electronic submissions and for multistate employers.
• Date of birth and contact phone extension: optional.

Filing through PA CareerLink

The Report New Hires page on PA CareerLink offers three electronic routes:

• Enter manually: a web form for one hire at a time, described as best for 50 new employees or fewer. No login required.
• Upload a file: copy data into one of the program's templates and upload all hires at once, also without a login. Excel (.xls or .xlsx) is the preferred type; tab-delimited and fixed-width text, XML and CSV layouts are also published. File names follow the pattern PANH plus company name plus month and date, and header rows must be removed.
• Secure file transfer: SFTP with SSH key and PGP encryption for automated reporting; credentials must be requested.

Employers that do not have employees in multiple states may also report on paper, using the Commonwealth-approved New Hire Reporting Form, by toll-free fax to (866) 748-4473 or by mail to Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, New Hire Reporting Program, P.O. Box 69400, Harrisburg, PA 17106-9400. A W-4 is accepted if the date of hire and the contact name and phone are written on it separately; the program's FAQ notes that the W-4 signature date is not a valid date of hire. Do not email new hire data. Questions go to (888) 724-4737, RA-LI-CWDS-NewHire@pa.gov, or the program's live chat, weekdays 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern.

Twenty days from the first paid day

§ 4392(d): the information shall be submitted no later than 20 days from the date of hire of a newly hired employee; electronic filers may instead make two monthly transmissions not less than 12 days nor more than 16 days apart. § 4391 defines date of hire as the first day an employee performs services for remuneration.

For a distribution center in the Lehigh Valley that hires in weekly waves, the practical point is the W-4 warning above. The day the form is signed during pre-boarding is not the date of hire. The first paid shift is, and if a start slips because a background check runs long, the report should carry the new date.

Independent contractors

Not required in Pennsylvania. The statute defines employee by reference to the federal income tax withholding rules, the program's glossary ties reporting to W-2 employees, and the federal contact guide lists Pennsylvania as a no. Workers who should be treated as employees must be reported.

The Pennsylvania penalty

§ 4396 reads that an employer that fails to report may be provided a written warning for the first violation and is subject to a civil penalty of up to $25 for each violation which is subsequent to the warning, payable to the Department of Labor & Industry. If the failure to report, or a false report, results from a conspiracy between employer and employee, the penalty is up to $500. A separate section, § 4395, makes it a summary offense, with a civil penalty of up to $250, to disclose new hire information to an unauthorized person or for an unauthorized purpose.

Rehires: Pennsylvania's 30-day rule

Pennsylvania counts rehires more broadly than the federal 60-day definition. Under § 4391, a newly hired employee includes a rehired former employee who was laid off, furloughed, separated or granted leave without pay for more than 30 days, or who was terminated. PA CareerLink says the same in practical terms: report employees who return after not receiving wages for more than 30 calendar days, naming teachers, substitutes and seasonal workers. For amusement parks, farm stands and school-year employers, that means most returning staff are reportable every season. Temporary agencies report a worker once, and again after a break in service or gap in wages. Our rehire policy guide covers the policy side.

Multistate employers in Pennsylvania

A multistate employer can report each hire to the state where the person works, or register with the federal Department of Health and Human Services and report all hires electronically to one state. If it chooses Pennsylvania, § 4392(c) requires it to include each employee's state of hire, and PA CareerLink says multistate employers may not report on paper. The registration details are in our parent guide.

Hiring in Pennsylvania

See Pennsylvania labor laws and the Pennsylvania minimum wage for the rest of the state picture, and the new hire forms checklist for the first-week paperwork. Boostpoint runs social job ads on Facebook and Instagram for frontline employers. In our 2026 Social Job Advertising Benchmark (891 Boostpoint-managed campaigns on Meta), the median cost per applicant was $13.88; the data is not broken out by state.

Pennsylvania new hire forms: the full set

The report to the Commonwealth directory is the employer's filing. The forms a new Pennsylvania employee fills out are short on the state side and unusual on the local side: Pennsylvania's own income tax needs no allowance certificate for most hires, but every new employee completes a local earned income tax form. Each item below was checked at the issuing agency on 29 September 2026.

State income tax: a flat rate, so no allowance form

The Department of Revenue's employer withholding guide (REV-415) tells employers to calculate Pennsylvania withholding for each payroll period by multiplying compensation subject to withholding by the current rate, 3.07%. There are no allowances to claim, so a typical new hire gives you nothing on the state side. The exception is the REV-419, which an employee files only to claim exemption: someone who expects to qualify for Pennsylvania Tax Forgiveness, a resident of a reciprocal state (Indiana, Maryland, New Jersey, Ohio, Virginia or West Virginia) who wants their home state's tax withheld instead, or a qualifying military spouse.

The Residency Certification Form

Act 32 of 2008 says an employer "shall require each new employee to complete a certificate of residency form," as an addendum to the federal W-4, and to have employees who change address or domicile complete a new one (DCED Act 32 Procedure Manual). The form itself says it "must be used by employers when a new employee is hired or when a current employee notifies employer of a name or address change." It records where the employee lives and where they report to work, with the PSD codes and earned income tax rates for each, so you can withhold local earned income tax at the right rate and send it to the right collector. DCED's form download and its address search tool give the codes; keep the completed form in the personnel file.

Company forms such as direct deposit, emergency contacts and the handbook acknowledgment come on top. Our new hire forms checklist lists the full packet, Form I-9 requirements covers the document rules, and Pennsylvania labor laws covers pay and break rules.

Frequently asked questions