How to Complete and Submit the Washington State New Hire Reporting Form

Washington employers complete the state’s new hire reporting form, DSHS 18-463, by filling in the employee’s identifying details and the business’s own information, then sending it to the Division of Child Support (DCS) within 20 days of the worker’s first day of paid work. You can submit online through Secure Access Washington, by fax to 800-782-0624, by mail to PO Box 9023, Olympia, WA 98507-9023, or by phone at 800-562-0479.¹ The report is required for every new employee and for any rehire returning after a gap of at least 60 consecutive days.²

What to Put on the Form

Form DSHS 18-463 is a single page with two blocks: one for the employee, one for the employer. Gather the details before you start so you aren’t chasing down a Social Security number later.

For each new hire or rehire, you need:¹

Full legal name (last, first, middle) as it appears on the Social Security card
Social Security number
Date of birth
Home street address, city, state, and ZIP code
Date of hire, meaning the first day the person actually performed services for pay, not the day they accepted the offer or signed paperwork

For your business, you need the legal business name (not a DBA), the business address, and the Federal Employer Identification Number.³ Check the FEIN carefully. A transposed digit routes your report to another business in the DCS matching system and can trigger follow-up inquiries.

Acceptable Substitutes for DSHS 18-463

You don’t have to use the official form. Washington accepts a copy of the employee’s W-4 as long as you write the date of birth and date of hire on it, and the state also accepts computer printouts or other employer-generated lists that contain the required data.¹ Form I-9 is not accepted as a substitute.³ If you create your own form or print from your payroll system, use a 10- to 12-point font so the receiving end can scan it cleanly.

How to Submit the Report

Washington offers four channels. All four satisfy the requirement, though DCS prefers online submission.³

Online

Go to secureaccess.wa.gov, create an account if you don’t already have one, and add the “DCS Online” service. You can then enter each new hire directly, and the system confirms submission so you have a record of compliance. For help setting up the account, call DCS Employer Relations at 800-562-0479.¹

Fax

Fax the completed DSHS 18-463, a W-4 marked up with birth and hire dates, or a payroll printout to 800-782-0624. The line runs 24 hours. If you’re borrowing someone else’s fax, put your company name and callback number on the cover sheet.¹

Mail

Send paper forms to:

New Hire Reporting
PO Box 9023
Olympia, WA 98507-9023¹

Phone

Call 800-562-0479 Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Pacific time. Outside those hours you can leave a voicemail with the new hire’s information.¹

The 20-Day Deadline

You have 20 calendar days from the employee’s first day of paid work to submit the report.⁴ The clock starts on the date of hire itself, not on the day you process payroll or finish onboarding. A worker hired March 1 must be reported by March 21.

Employers who transmit data electronically in bulk, such as through a payroll software export, may submit in two batches per month instead of filing one report at a time. The two transmissions must fall 12 to 16 days apart.⁴ That option works well for companies hiring in volume who want to align reporting with their payroll cycle.

Multi-State Employers

If your company employs workers in more than one state, you can report every new hire to a single state rather than filing with each state separately. To use that option, register as a multi-state employer with the federal Office of Child Support Services at ocsp.acf.hhs.gov or by calling 800-258-2736.¹ That registration doubles as the written notice federal law requires.⁵ Multi-state filers must submit electronically and may use the two-transmissions-per-month schedule. Employers who don’t register this way must report each new hire to the state where that employee actually works.⁴

Penalties for Missing the Deadline

Washington adopted the federal penalty ceilings and wrote them into RCW 26.23.040. There are two tiers:²

$25 per month for each employee you failed to report. All violations within a single month count as one violation per employee.
$500 if the failure results from an agreement between you and the employee to skip the report or submit false information.

DCS typically sends a non-compliance notice before assessing fines, but the statute authorizes the penalty as soon as the 20-day window closes, so don’t assume a grace period.²

What Happens After You Submit

DCS runs the new hire data against the state’s child support case registry. If your employee has an outstanding support order, you will receive an income withholding order telling you to deduct a specified amount from the worker’s wages and send it to the State Disbursement Unit. The order is legally binding and carries its own deadlines for when withholding must begin.

You may also receive a National Medical Support Notice, a two-part form requiring you to enroll the employee’s child in your company’s group health plan if coverage is available. Part A directs you to withhold the employee’s share of premium costs, and Part B goes to your health plan administrator to start enrollment.⁶ Both follow-up obligations flow from the court order behind the child support case, not from the new hire report itself, and neither is optional.

Recordkeeping and Data Security

The form captures Social Security numbers, dates of birth, and home addresses, which is the combination that makes identity theft easy. Keep completed forms and any copies in a locked cabinet or encrypted storage. Washington requires employers to retain payroll records for at least three years, so plan on keeping new hire reporting records for at least that long.⁷ When you dispose of them, shred paper copies and securely delete electronic files.

Where to Get the Form

Download Form DSHS 18-463 as a PDF from the DSHS website. The first page carries the instructions; the second page is the fillable form.¹ If you’d rather not use the official form, a W-4 with the date of birth and hire date added, or an equivalent payroll printout containing every required data point, will do the job.

1
Washington State Department of Social and Health Services. New Hire Reporting Methods and Instructions
2
Washington State Legislature. RCW 26.23.040 – Reporting of New Employees
3
Washington State Department of Social and Health Services. New Hire Reporting
4
Administration for Children and Families. New Hire Reporting
5
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Multistate Employer Registration Form for New Hire Reporting
6
Administration for Children and Families. National Medical Support Notice Forms and Instructions
7
Washington State Department of Labor and Industries. Payroll and Personnel Records