Wisconsin Tier II Reporting: Who Files, Deadlines, and Penalties

Wisconsin Tier II reporting is an annual inventory filing that any facility storing hazardous chemicals above federal thresholds must submit to Wisconsin Emergency Management by March 1 for the preceding calendar year. The report goes in through the state’s online portal, WHOPRS, along with a tiered fee, and both state and federal penalties attach to late or inaccurate filings. The program runs under Wisconsin Statutes section 323.60.¹

Who Has to File

If OSHA’s Hazard Communication Standard requires you to keep a Safety Data Sheet for a chemical, and you store that chemical at or above a reporting threshold at any point in the year, you must file.² The thresholds split by hazard:

Standard hazardous chemicals: 10,000 pounds present at any one time.³
Extremely Hazardous Substances (EHS): 500 pounds or the chemical’s threshold planning quantity, whichever is lower. Threshold planning quantities run from 1 pound up to 10,000 pounds depending on toxicity, so the most dangerous EHS chemicals trigger reporting at a single pound on-site.³⁴

Sulfuric acid is a common surprise. It is an EHS, which puts its Tier II threshold at 500 pounds, and facilities with large banks of lead-acid batteries routinely cross that line because the acid inside every battery aggregates toward the total.⁵

Retail Gas Stations

Gas stations are not exempt, but they get higher thresholds when fuel is stored entirely in compliant underground tanks: 75,000 gallons for gasoline and 100,000 gallons for diesel.⁶ Wisconsin uses those same federal numbers.¹

What’s Exempt

Several categories sit outside Tier II entirely:

Food, drugs, and cosmetics regulated by the FDA.
Consumer products in the same form and concentration you would find on a store shelf, even when used commercially.
Research laboratory chemicals under the direct supervision of a technically qualified individual.
Routine agricultural chemicals and fertilizers held for retail sale.
Solid manufactured items that do not expose workers to the substance in normal use.

These exclusions come from EPCRA Section 311(e) and 40 CFR 370.13.⁷ The solid-item exemption has an edge to watch: if you process the item in a way that creates exposure, such as cutting metal that releases fumes or grinding bricks into dust, the resulting material counts toward your threshold.⁸

Deadline and Fees

Reports cover the prior calendar year and are due by March 1. For the 2025 reporting year, that means March 1, 2026, and both the report and the payment must reach Wisconsin Emergency Management by that date to count as timely.⁹

Fees scale with how many chemicals you report, with a surcharge when your cumulative maximum daily amount reaches 100,000 pounds. The schedule effective January 1, 2025:²

1 chemical: $275, or $330 at 100,000 lbs or more
2–10 chemicals: $550 or $655
11–100 chemicals: $825 or $990
101–200 chemicals: $1,010 or $1,210
201–300 chemicals: $1,195 or $1,430
301–400 chemicals: $1,380 or $1,650
401–500 chemicals: $1,560 or $1,870
501+ chemicals: $1,745 or $2,090

Temporary construction sites and batch plants pay a flat $35. A one-time $1,080 fee applies the first time a facility files an emergency planning notification under Section 302.²

What You Need to Report

Collect your facility and chemical data before opening the software. At the facility level: your NAICS code, the exact latitude and longitude of the site, any state or federal facility ID numbers, and emergency contacts reachable around the clock.

For each reportable chemical, you need the Chemical Abstracts Service number, the physical state (solid, liquid, or gas), the maximum amount on-site on any single day during the year, the average daily amount, and storage details covering container type, location, temperature, and pressure.

Every chemical also gets one or more hazard classifications aligned with OSHA’s Hazard Communication Standard. Physical hazards include flammable, explosive, oxidizer, gas under pressure, and combustible dust. Health hazards include acute toxicity, carcinogenicity, reproductive toxicity, skin corrosion, and serious eye damage.¹⁰ Each chemical’s Safety Data Sheet carries these classifications, so make sure your SDS library is current before you start.

How to Submit

EPA publishes free Tier2 Submit software, updated each reporting year, that produces the file Wisconsin accepts. The 2025 version can import your file from either of the two prior years, which is the fastest way to roll forward facility data, contacts, and chemical lists.¹¹ Once validated, the software exports a .t2s or .zip file.

That file goes to Wisconsin through the Wisconsin Hazmat Online Planning and Reporting System, known as WHOPRS.¹² First-time filers register for an account. After upload, check that fields populated correctly, then certify the information. Save the system’s receipt. Wisconsin requires that the inventory form, site plan, fee statement, and payment all arrive together for the filing to be considered timely.⁹

Penalties for Missing or Botching the Filing

Wisconsin counts each day of a continuing violation as a separate offense, so exposure compounds fast.¹³ Under section 323.60(11), state forfeitures run:

Federal enforcement runs on a separate track. The base civil penalty under 42 U.S.C. 11045(c)(1) is up to $25,000 per violation, each day counting separately.¹⁴ After inflation adjustments, the statutory maximum reaches $71,545 per violation for penalties assessed on or after January 8, 2025.¹⁵ Knowingly and willfully reporting false information carries criminal exposure of up to $25,000 and two years in prison for a first offense, rising to $50,000 and five years for repeat convictions.¹⁶

1
Wisconsin State Legislature. Wisconsin Statutes 323.60 – Hazardous Substances Information and Emergency Planning
2
Wisconsin Emergency Management. Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act
3
eCFR. 40 CFR 370.10 – Threshold Levels
4
eCFR. Appendix A to Part 355 – The List of Extremely Hazardous Substances
5
US EPA. How Does a Facility Report Batteries for Tier II
6
US EPA. Retail Gas Stations Are Not Exempt from Tier II Reporting
7
eCFR. 40 CFR Part 370 – Hazardous Chemical Reporting
8
US EPA. EPCRA Hazardous Chemical Inventory Reporting – Solids Exemptions
9
Wisconsin State Legislature. Wisconsin Administrative Code WEM 1.04 – Hazardous Chemical Inventory Reporting and Inventory Form Fee
10
Environmental Protection Agency. Safety Data Sheets with New OSHA Physical and Health Hazard Classes and Tier II Reporting
11
US EPA. Tier2 Submit Software
12
Wisconsin Emergency Management. Wisconsin Hazmat Online Planning and Reporting System
13
Wisconsin State Legislature. Wisconsin Statutes 323.60(11)(e) – Hazardous Substances Information and Emergency Planning
14
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 11045 – Enforcement
15
eCFR. 40 CFR 19.4 – Statutory Civil Monetary Penalties
16
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC Chapter 116 – Emergency Planning and Community Right-To-Know