How to Complete and Submit the Indiana New Hire Reporting Form

If you run a business in Indiana, you must report every newly hired or rehired employee to the Indiana New Hire Reporting Center within 20 business days of their first day of paid work. Reports go through the state’s electronic system at in-newhire.com; as of July 1, 2024, electronic filing is mandatory. Indiana new hire reporting exists so the state can enforce child support withholding orders and catch fraudulent unemployment and workers’ compensation claims.

Which Employers and Employees Are Covered

Indiana Code 22-4-10-8 applies to any employer with workers in Indiana. The statute uses the definition of “employer” from Section 3401(d) of the Internal Revenue Code, which sweeps in private businesses, governmental agencies, and labor organizations. Size and industry don’t matter. If you pay wages in Indiana, you report.

A newly hired employee is anyone who has never worked for you before, or who worked for you previously and has been separated for at least 60 consecutive days. That rehire rule catches more people than employers often expect. Seasonal workers returning for the season, former employees coming back, and workers recalled from a layoff of 60 days or more all have to be reported again, as if they were brand new. Full-time, part-time, and seasonal staff all count. Even an employee who quits or is fired before you get around to filing still has to be submitted.

What Information the Report Requires

You submit two sets of information: one about your business, one about the employee.

Employer Fields

Provide your Federal Employer Identification Number, the full legal name of the business, and your payroll address. The payroll address should be where child support income withholding orders would be sent. If you use a common paymaster or payroll reporting agent, enter the FEIN tied to that arrangement.

Employee Fields

The Indiana Department of Workforce Development requires the following for each new hire:¹

Full name as it appears on the Social Security card
Current residential mailing address
Social Security Number
Date of hire (first day of paid services)
Date of birth
Eligibility for employer-sponsored medical insurance
Current job title
Standardized occupational classification (SOC) code for the position
Starting compensation
Rate of pay (annual, hourly, or other structure)

Job title, SOC code, starting compensation, and rate of pay became required fields on July 1, 2024.² A transition period ran through July 1, 2025, during which the state did not penalize employers for leaving these fields blank. That grace period is over, so every field is expected on every submission now.

How to Submit

Everything goes through in-newhire.com. The state stopped treating paper and fax as default channels when the electronic mandate took effect in 2024. Three electronic options are available:³

Online single entry. Register for an account and key employee records into a web form, one at a time. The system generates a confirmation you can save as proof of filing. This works best for small employers who hire infrequently.

Web upload. Employers with higher volumes can upload a batch file through their account. Accepted formats are fixed-width text (recommended), comma- or tab-delimited text, and Excel. ZIP files are fine, but password-protected or encrypted ZIPs are not; files encrypted with PGP tools such as GnuPG are supported.⁴

SFTP. Employers and payroll providers who want to automate submissions can transfer files over SSH File Transfer Protocol to sftp.in-newhire.com on port 22, placing files in the root directory. Public key authentication (RSA or DSA) is available for scripted processes. You have to contact customer service to set up SFTP credentials.⁴

A payroll service or accounting provider can file on your behalf. You can also change methods at any time, though switching to SFTP for the first time requires a call to customer service to update your account.³

When the Report Is Due

You have 20 business days from the employee’s date of hire to file.⁵ The date of hire is the first day the employee performs services for pay.

Batch filers can follow a different cadence. Federal law lets employers who transmit electronically submit in two monthly transmissions spaced 12 to 16 days apart, instead of tracking the 20-day clock for each hire.⁶ The Indiana New Hire Reporting Center recommends that rhythm to keep batch filers inside the 20-day window.³

If you are registering with the system for the first time, start by reporting any employees hired within the last 180 days, then stay on the 20-day schedule for everyone hired after that.

Multistate Employers

A company with employees in more than one state can send all of its new hire reports to a single state instead of filing in each one. Under 42 U.S.C. 653a, an employer that transmits electronically may pick one state where it has employees and route every report there. To use the option, notify the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services in writing identifying the state you have chosen, and keep a copy of that designation in your records.⁶ Federal agencies don’t use this process; they report directly to the National Directory of New Hires.⁷

Penalties for Failing to Report

Indiana can assess a civil penalty of $25 per unreported employee. If the state finds that the employer and the employee conspired to avoid reporting or to submit a false or incomplete report, the penalty rises to $500 per employee.⁵ The state may also follow up when new hire records don’t line up with later tax filings or unemployment insurance records.

Where to Get Help

Questions about registration, file formats, or account setup go to the Indiana New Hire Reporting Center through in-newhire.com. The center also maintains a mailing address at PO Box 3429, Trenton, NJ 08619, and a fax line at (800) 408-1388 for support correspondence, though actual reports have to be submitted electronically.⁸

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Indiana Department of Workforce Development. New Hire Reporting
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Indiana New Hire Reporting Center. Indiana New Hire Reporting Center
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Indiana New Hire Reporting Center. Frequently Asked Questions
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Indiana New Hire Reporting Center. File Transfer Options
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Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 22-4-10-8 – Indiana Directory of Hires and Rehires
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Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 653a – State Directory of New Hires
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Office of Child Support Enforcement. National Directory of New Hires
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Indiana New Hire Reporting Center. Contact Us