How to File the NJ-927 and WR-30: Rates, Deadlines, and Penalties

New Jersey has no form called the “WR-1.” Employers here file two reports together each quarter through the Department of Labor and Workforce Development’s Employer Access portal: the WR-30, the Employer Report of Wages Paid, and the NJ-927, the Employer’s Quarterly Report. Both are due within 30 days after each calendar quarter ends.¹ If you came here looking for a Massachusetts-style WR-1, the New Jersey equivalent is this pair, and they are always filed as a pair.

What Each Report Covers

The NJ-927 is the contribution report. It summarizes total quarterly payroll and calculates what you owe for unemployment insurance, temporary disability insurance, family leave insurance, and the workforce development fund. It also reports gross income tax withheld from employee wages.²

The WR-30 is the wage detail report. It lists every employee by name and Social Security number, with gross wages paid during the quarter and the number of base weeks worked.³ The state uses that per-employee data to decide later whether individual workers qualify for unemployment or disability benefits. The NJ-927 shows the aggregate; the WR-30 shows who earned what.

What to Have Ready Before You File

Pull these numbers together before you open the portal:

Covered worker counts for each of the three months in the quarter. For each month, count the employees who worked or received pay during the payroll period that includes the 12th. Exclude workers on unpaid leave, retirees receiving only a pension, and anyone serving in the Armed Forces.²
Total gross wages for the quarter: salaries, commissions, bonuses, sick pay, vacation pay, holiday pay, back pay awards, and the cash value of non-cash compensation.³
Excess wages for any employee whose year-to-date pay has crossed the taxable wage base. You enter excess wages in two separate categories because the caps differ.
Gross state income tax withheld during the quarter.
Individual employee detail for the WR-30: legal name, Social Security number, quarterly gross wages, and base weeks.

Working Through the NJ-927

The NJ-927 has two main sections. The gross income tax portion sits at the top; the labor contributions portion sits below.

Gross Income Tax

Enter total wages subject to state income tax on Line 1 and the total GIT withheld for the quarter. If you made electronic funds transfer payments during the quarter, enter those on Line 3. The portal calculates whether you owe a balance or have an overpayment.²

Labor Contributions

Line 7 is covered worker counts, one number per month. Line 8 is total gross wages for the quarter subject to UI, TDI, workforce fund, and FLI contributions. On Line 9, enter combined excess wages above the employer taxable wage base ($44,800 in 2026) for UI, workforce fund, and the employer share of TDI. Line 10 captures excess wages above the employee taxable wage base ($171,100 in 2026) for the worker share of TDI and FLI.⁴

Lines 11 through 14 show taxable wages for each program after subtracting the excess amounts. Lines 15 onward apply your assigned tax rates to produce the contributions due. The system handles the arithmetic, but the raw wage figures have to be right. Everything downstream flows from them.²

2026 Rates and Wage Bases

New Jersey splits contributions between employer and employee, and the taxable wage caps differ by program:

Unemployment insurance and workforce funds (employer and employee): $44,800 taxable wage base. New employers pay a UI rate of approximately 2.68% until they build enough experience for an individual rate.⁴
TDI, employer share: $44,800 wage base. The employer TDI rate is part of your experience-rated schedule.
TDI, employee share: $171,100 wage base. The 2026 employee contribution rate is 0.19%.⁴
FLI (employee only): $171,100 wage base. The 2026 employee contribution rate is 0.23%.

Your specific UI and employer TDI rates come in the annual rate notice from the Division of Employer Accounts, and you can also look them up in Employer Access. Entering the wrong rate throws off Lines 15 through 18 and triggers a notice and possible penalty.

Quarterly Deadlines

Both the WR-30 and NJ-927 are due by the 30th of the month following the end of each quarter:¹

Q1 (January–March): due April 30
Q2 (April–June): due July 30
Q3 (July–September): due October 30
Q4 (October–December): due January 30

Both reports and the contribution payment have to be submitted electronically through Employer Access or a compatible payroll filing system. The portal generates a confirmation number on successful submission. Save it. That number is your proof the state received the filing.⁵

Penalties for Late or Inaccurate Filing

Penalties differ by form, and the WR-30 penalty escalates with repeat failures.

Late NJ-927

If the NJ-927 misses its deadline, the state charges $10 per day for the first five days of delinquency. After the fifth day the penalty continues at $10 per day or 25% of the contributions due for the quarter, whichever is less. If no contributions are owed for the quarter, the penalty is capped at $50.⁶ A zero-liability report still incurs daily penalties if it arrives late.

Late or Inaccurate WR-30

Per-employee penalties apply when the WR-30 is filed late or contains missing or inaccurate information. The amount escalates based on how many quarters you’ve had a failure within any rolling eight-quarter window:

First failure: $5 per employee
Second failure: $10 per employee
Third failure and beyond: $25 per employee⁶

For a business with 50 employees, a third-offense WR-30 failure means $1,250 for a single quarter. A typo in a Social Security number or wage figure counts as inaccurately reported information.

Interest on Unpaid Contributions

Unpaid contributions accrue interest at 1.25% per month from the due date until the state receives payment, which works out to 15% annually.⁷ If a business fails to pay, the state can pursue collection actions or place liens on business assets.⁶

Fixing a Report After You Filed

If you catch an error after submitting, file an amended NJ-927 through the same portal. Enter the corrected amounts in every required field, not just the fields that changed.² This is where employers most often slip up: they enter only the difference between the original and corrected figures, and the system treats the submission as a fresh return with tiny numbers. Fill in every line as if you were filing from scratch, this time with the right figures.

How Long to Keep the Records

New Jersey requires employers to keep records tied to unemployment compensation, temporary disability, and family leave insurance for the current calendar year plus the four preceding calendar years.⁸ Wage and hour records have a longer retention period of six years. If your business becomes inactive, you keep all records for an additional six quarters after your last active quarter.

1
New Jersey Division of Taxation. Reporting and Remitting
2
New Jersey Department of the Treasury. NJ927 – Employer’s Quarterly Report
3
New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development. Division of Employer Accounts – Frequently Asked Questions
4
New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development. Division of Employer Accounts – Rate Information, Contributions, and Wage Bases
5
New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development. Division of Employer Accounts
6
Justia. New Jersey Code 43:21-14 – Periodic Contribution Reports
7
New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development. Division of Employer Accounts – Interest and Penalties
8
New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development. Employer Obligation to Maintain and Report Records