Pennsylvania UC-1 Employer Registration: myPATH Steps and 30-Day Deadline

Pennsylvania UC-1 employer registration is now handled online through myPATH (mypath.pa.gov), the state’s unified business tax portal, which replaced the older PA-100 paper process. You have 30 days from the date work is first performed for your business in Pennsylvania to complete it, and the Department of Labor and Industry will issue you a UC employer account number that stays with your business for every future quarterly filing and wage report.

Do You Need to Register

Pennsylvania’s definition of “employer” is broad. Under 43 P.S. § 753(j)(1), any individual, partnership, corporation, or other entity that employs even one person for any part of a day during a calendar year is subject to the Unemployment Compensation Law.¹ Nonprofits, government agencies, and LLCs are all included. If you pay someone for work performed in Pennsylvania, you almost certainly need to register.

Two kinds of employment have higher thresholds before coverage kicks in:

Household employers (nannies, housekeepers, caregivers) become covered once they pay $1,000 or more in cash wages in any calendar quarter.²
Agricultural employers are covered once they pay $20,000 or more in cash wages in any calendar quarter, or employ ten or more workers for any part of a day in 20 or more weeks during the current or prior calendar year.³

Family and Religious Work That Doesn’t Count

Some arrangements fall outside UC coverage entirely. Work performed by a child under 18 for a parent, or by someone working for a spouse, son, or daughter, is not covered employment. The same goes for stepchildren, foster children, and adopted children working for their parents. The catch is business structure: this family exemption applies only when the employer is a sole proprietorship or a partnership (and in a partnership, the worker must be related to every partner). Corporations and LLCs are treated as separate legal entities, so family status doesn’t carry across.⁴

Religious organizations operating exclusively for religious purposes are also exempt. A religiously affiliated group that runs a school, hospital, or other non-religious activity does not qualify and must register.

What to Gather Before You Start

Have the following in front of you when you open the application:

Your Federal Employer Identification Number. If you don’t have one, apply through the IRS at irs.gov. For a brand-new entity, register the entity with the state first; applying for an EIN before the entity formally exists can slow things down.⁵
Your legal business name and entity type (sole proprietorship, partnership, C-corp, S-corp, or LLC).
The physical address of every Pennsylvania work site, not just a mailing address.
The date wages were first paid, which sets your coverage date and the 30-day clock.
Social Security numbers for owners or officers, used to verify the entity.
If you acquired an existing business, the previous owner’s UC account number and the details of the transfer.
A description of what your business does. The state uses it to assign your industry classification and starting contribution rate.

How to Register on myPATH

Pennsylvania bundles UC registration with other state tax accounts in a single application, so you can register for employer withholding, sales tax, and UC together.⁶

Go to mypath.pa.gov and choose “Pennsylvania Online Business Tax Registration” from the Registration panel.
Select “Business Tax Registration” and click Next.
Enter your FEIN, business name, address, entity type, and the other details above. In the list of tax types, select Unemployment Compensation.
Submit the application. You can also save a draft and come back within 30 days to finish it.⁷

After submission, allow roughly 48 hours for an email from the Department of Labor and Industry with your UC account information.⁷ If the email doesn’t arrive, or you need the number sooner, the Department has a retrieval tool that will return your account number after you answer verification questions from the registration.⁸ That account number is permanent and will appear on every quarterly filing you make from here on.

The 30-Day Deadline

Under 34 Pa. Code § 63.51, you must register within 30 days after services are first performed for your business in Pennsylvania.⁹ The clock starts when the work is actually performed, not when you incorporate, sign a lease, or issue the first paycheck. Acquiring an existing business also triggers a 30-day window, because the account must be updated to reflect the new ownership.

Missing the deadline doesn’t erase what you owe. The state will calculate contributions back to the date coverage began, and interest accrues at 1% per month on any unpaid balance.¹⁰

The Rate You’ll Be Assigned

Your contribution rate depends on your industry and how new your business is. For 2026, new employers pay:

Non-construction employers: 3.8220%
Construction employers: 10.5924%¹¹

These new-employer rates apply for your first two or three calendar years of paying wages. After that, the state calculates a rate based on your actual experience, driven mainly by former employees’ benefit claims. Fewer claims mean a lower rate; more claims mean a higher one.¹¹

Separately, you also withhold a small employee contribution from each worker’s wages. For 2026 that rate is 0.07%. Both the employer and employee contributions apply only to the first $10,000 of wages per employee per year, which is the taxable wage base. That base has been $10,000 since 2018.¹⁰

Reimbursable Status for Nonprofits and Government

If you’re a 501(c)(3) nonprofit or a political subdivision, you can elect reimbursable status instead of paying the standard contribution. Reimbursable employers pay the UC Fund dollar-for-dollar for benefits their former employees actually claim, rather than a percentage of wages each quarter. Nonprofits choosing this method also cover half of any extended benefits paid. The method suits organizations with low turnover; a layoff, however, means the full cost of those claims lands on your account. Reimbursable employers also pay a solvency fee (0.19% for 2026) and must file quarterly reports even when nothing is owed.¹²

If You Acquired an Existing Business

When you take over all or part of an existing business, the predecessor’s UC experience can transfer to your account. Under 34 Pa. Code § 63.1, a successor employer may apply to transfer the previous owner’s experience record and reserve account balance. The Department approves the transfer when it determines you’re continuing essentially the same business activity, looking at the nature of the work, the number of employees, and the wages paid.¹³

Inheriting a clean experience record can lower your rate. Inheriting a bad one works the same way in reverse, including benefit charges on claims filed after the transfer that are based on wages the predecessor paid before it.¹⁴ Enter the predecessor’s UC account number and transfer details during registration so the state can make the right assignment.

What Happens After You’re Registered

Registration opens the door to ongoing filings. Once you have your UC account number, you file Form UC-2 (Employer’s Report for Unemployment Compensation) every quarter, reporting gross wages, calculating employer and employee contributions owed, and listing total covered employees.¹⁵ Alongside UC-2 you file UC-2A, which breaks the wages down by individual employee.

Reports and payments are due by the last day of the month following each quarter:

January through March: due April 30
April through June: due July 31
July through September: due October 31
October through December: due January 31

When a due date falls on a weekend or holiday, it shifts to the next business day. File the quarterly report even if you owe nothing, reimbursable employers included.¹⁵

1
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania Unemployment Compensation Law
2
Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code 43 P.S. 753 – Definitions
3
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Exclusions – Section: Agricultural Employment
4
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Family Employment Coverage and Exemption Under Pennsylvania Unemployment Compensation Law
5
Internal Revenue Service. Get an Employer Identification Number
6
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Register My Business for Taxes
7
Pennsylvania Department of Revenue. How Do I Register for Business Taxes
8
Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry. Retrieve Unemployment Compensation UC Employer Account Number
9
Pennsylvania Code and Bulletin. 34 Pa. Code 63.51 – Initial and Renewed Registration
10
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Calculating Contributions, Penalties and Interest
11
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. UC Tax
12
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Reimbursable Employers
13
Legal Information Institute. 34 Pa. Code 63.1 – Successors-in-Interest
14
Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry. Pennsylvania Unemployment Compensation Wage Records Replacement UC-2A for Partial Transfer
15
Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry. Employer’s Report for Unemployment Compensation