How to Fill Out and Submit the Illinois New Hire Reporting Form

The Illinois new hire reporting form is a one-page filing you send to the Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES) within 20 calendar days of hiring or rehiring a worker, including independent contractors. You can download the current PDF from the IDES employer resources page at ides.illinois.gov, fill in a short list of employee and employer details, and submit it online, by fax, by mail, by email, or through secure file transfer.¹

Who You Have to Report

Every Illinois employer reports every new hire. The only exception in the statute is for federal agencies whose employees do intelligence or counterintelligence work where reporting could compromise safety or an active investigation.² Size and industry don’t matter. Government entities and labor organizations are covered too.

A “newly hired employee” is anyone who has never worked for you before, or who left your payroll for at least 60 consecutive days before coming back. A seasonal worker who was out for a month doesn’t need a fresh report, though you may file one voluntarily if you want to.²

Independent Contractors Count

Illinois requires reporting of 1099 workers, not just W-2 employees. The statute’s definition of “newly hired employee” includes individuals under an independent contractor arrangement,² and IDES tells employers to report “all new and rehired employees, including independent contractors.”³ If you bring on a freelancer or gig worker, file the same report you would for a payroll employee.

The 20-Day Deadline

You have 20 calendar days from the date of hire to file. The date of hire is the first day the worker performs services for pay, not the day they signed an offer letter or finished orientation.²

Employers who transmit reports electronically or magnetically can batch them into two monthly transmissions instead, spaced no fewer than 12 and no more than 16 days apart.² That option mainly helps larger operations with heavy onboarding volume.

Information to Gather Before You Start

Pull everything together before you open the form. A mismatched Social Security Number or FEIN is the most common reason a report gets kicked back, and you’ll have to refile.

For the employee:

Full legal name, as it appears on the Social Security card or W-4
Current residential street address, city, state, and ZIP code
Social Security Number
Date of hire (first day services for pay were performed)

For your business:

Legal business name, as used on tax filings
Business address where payroll records are kept or where income withholding orders should be sent
Federal Employer Identification Number (FEIN)

The statute lets the Department ask for additional information required by federal law or regulation, so check the current version of the form for any fields beyond this core set.² Verify the SSN against the W-4 before you submit.

Filling Out the Form

The current form is called the IDES New Hire Form. Some older payroll references still use the “UC-NH” label for the same filing. Download the PDF from the IDES employer resources page.¹ It is one page with labeled fields matching the data points above.

If you’re printing and mailing or faxing, type the entries or print in black ink so the form is machine-readable. One form per employee: if you hired three people the same day, submit three forms.

You don’t have to use the IDES form if an alternative is easier. The state accepts a copy of the employee’s completed W-4, provided all required information is legible and your business name, address, and FEIN appear on it. A typed or printed listing of new employees with every required data point also works.⁴ If you already collect a W-4 on day one, photocopying it is often the fastest path.

How to Submit the Report

Illinois accepts five submission channels. Pick the one that fits your volume.

Online Portal

The state portal is at newhire.hfs.illinois.gov. Register with your FEIN, then log in to enter hires one at a time through the web form or upload a batch file.⁵ The portal allows multiple users per FEIN and multiple FEINs per user, which helps payroll teams handling several entities. Batch uploads use the TXT file layout or the Excel template available on the site’s upload instructions page.⁶

Fax

Fax completed forms, W-4 copies, or employee listings to (217) 557-1947. The fax line runs 24 hours.⁴ Keep the transmission confirmation page as proof of timely filing.

U.S. Mail

Mail completed forms to:

Illinois Department of Employment Security
Revenue Division
115 S. LaSalle Street, Floor LL2
Chicago, IL 60603⁴

Mail is the slowest route. Close to the deadline, fax or file online instead.

Email

IDES also accepts new hire reports by email. The submission page lists email alongside fax and first-class mail for forms, W-4 copies, and employee listings.⁴ Call the New Hire Reporting Center at (888) 245-1938 for the current email address and any formatting requirements.

Secure File Transfer

High-volume employers can submit through sFTP. This channel uses a different file layout from the web upload, so call (888) 245-1938 to request login credentials and the specified format.⁶

If You Operate in More Than One State

Federal law lets a multi-state employer report all new hires to a single state rather than filing in each one. Register with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services by emailing the Multistate Employer Registration (MSER) form to msedb@acf.hhs.gov or registering through the OCSE Child Support Portal at ocsp.acf.hhs.gov.⁷ You must have at least one employee currently working in the state you designate, and you need to update the registration after a merger or acquisition.

If you pick Illinois as your reporting state, the submission methods above apply to your out-of-state hires as well. If you designate another state, you stop filing in Illinois and follow that state’s deadlines and formats instead.

What Happens If You File Late

IDES doesn’t fine you the moment a report is missed. The agency first mails a notice identifying the unreported employee, and you have 21 days from the notice’s mailing date to submit the information. Miss that second window without reasonable cause and the agency treats the failure as “knowing,” triggering a $15 penalty per unreported individual.⁸

Federal law caps state penalties at $25 per failure, with up to $500 when the employer and employee conspire to withhold or falsify a report.⁹ Illinois sets its base penalty at $15, below the federal ceiling, but the $500 conspiracy penalty still applies if you and a worker deliberately suppress or falsify the information.

Penalties stack per employee, so a company that ignores several notices can run up a meaningful bill quickly. Add new hire reporting to the same onboarding checklist that already covers the I-9 and W-4, and the deadline takes care of itself.

1
Illinois Department of Employment Security. New Hire Reporting
2
Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 820 ILCS 405/1801.1 – Directory of New Hires
3
Illinois Department of Employment Security. New Hires Obligations
4
Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services. Illinois New Hire Reporting
5
Illinois Child Support. Illinois New Hire Reporting
6
Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services. Upload Instructions for New Hire Reporting via the Internet
7
Administration for Children & Families. Multistate Employer Registration Form for New Hire Reporting
8
Illinois General Assembly. Public Act 103-0343
9
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 653a – State Directory of New Hires