West Virginia New Employer Information

• Apply for an Employer Identification Number (EIN, aka, FEIN) with the IRS online.
• To read more about how to apply for an EIN, read our help article, “Your Step-by-step Guide on How to Apply for EIN.”
• You will be assigned a unique nine-digit number to identify your business for your federal taxes by the IRS. To learn more please read, “What Is an FEIN?”

• Although it is not required, we suggest you register for the EFTPS (Electronic Federal Tax Payment System).
• EFTPS is an easy way to pay your federal taxes online or view any tax filings made on your behalf by Patriot Software (if you are a Full Service Payroll customer). To find out more about the EFTPS, please read our article, “What Is EFTPS?”

• West Virginia new employers will need to register online with WV One Stop Business Portal to create accounts as a new employer for both:
  • state income tax (SIT) withholding with the WV State Tax Department.
  • state unemployment insurance (SUI) with Workforce West Virginia.
• You must first create a user account to access the online registration.

• Most employers begin with a rate of 2.7%.
• To learn more about SUTA, please read our article, “What Is SUTA Tax?”

You will need to register your business for local income taxes if your business is affiliated in any way with these cities:

• Charleston
• Fairmont
• Huntington
• Weirton

• You must have workers’ comp insurance if you have at least 1 employee in West Virginia. You can sign up for workers’ comp insurance through a private provider or state-operated fund. Learn more about workers’ comp requirements in West Virginia here.
• Patriot’s online payroll offers free pay as you go (PAYG) workers’ comp integration with our partner, NEXT Insurance. You can get a free quote with NEXT here.

• Fill out the required Form I-9 for employee work verification in the USA.
• This is a two-part form: the first section is filled out by the employee and the second part is to be filled out by the employer.
• You must retain each employee’s completed Form I-9 as long as the individual works for you. For more information, please read “What Should Be in an Employee File?”

• Employees need to fill out the Federal Form W-4 Withholding Certificate for federal income tax (FIT).
• For more information, read our help article, “Updates to the Income Tax Withholding Tables and What You Need to Know.”

• Form WV/IT-104 is the state employee withholding allowance certificate for West Virginia.

• West Virginia employers need to report new hires online within 14 days of hire or rehire (required by law) to the West Virginia New Hire Reporting Center.
• To learn more, please read, “What Is New Hire Reporting?”

• West Virginia’s minimum wage is $8.75 per hour.
• By law you are required to post the West Virginia minimum wage poster for your employees.

Did you know you can have an affordable labor law poster service to keep you compliant for federal, state, and local labor laws? Visit our partner, Poster Elite for more information. 

• Get annual posters and all federal, state, county, and city labor law updates with Patriot’s labor law poster store, powered by PosterElite!