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Child Support Services
JB Pritzker, Governor
Illinois Child Support

New Hire Reporting - Continued

Reporting Basics

  • Employers are required to report all newly hired employees within 20 calendar days of their start date. Newly hired employees are defined as those individuals who (i) are employees within the meaning of Chapter 24 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and (ii) either has not previously been employed by the employer or was previously employed by the employer but has been separated from that prior employment for at least 60 consecutive days.
  • Employers are required to report:
    • Full-time employees;
    • Part-time employees;
    • Temporary employees; and
    • Any employee returning to work who has been off the payroll for 60 consecutive days or more within the same company due to a:
      1. Lay-off,
      2. Furlough,
      3. Medical leave,
      4. Leave of absence, or
      5. Separation from work.

Note: Employers can use the following simple rule of thumb:
If the employee fills out a W-4 form - employers must report the employee!

What Information to Include on New Hire Reports

When reporting a new hire, an employer must provide:
  • Employer's Federal Employer Identification number (FEIN)
  • Employer's company name - name associated with the FEIN
  • Employer's address - address associated with the FEIN
  • Employee's Social Security number
  • Employee's name (specify first, middle and last)
  • Employee's home address
  • Date of hire (the employee's first day of work for pay)

If an employer wants Order/Notices to Withhold Income for Child Support directed to an alternate address other than the one associated with the FEIN, the employer should provide that address when submitting new hire information, if not submitted previously.

How to Report New Hires

Employers can report new hires using one of the following five methods:
  1. Completing and submitting the New Hire Reporting form provided by the Illinois Department of Employment Security (via first-class mail or fax);
  2. Submitting copies of the employee's W-4 form, with all information completed legibly, including the employer information (via first-class mail or fax);
  3. Submitting a separate listing of new employees, with the required data (via first-class mail, fax, or e-mail);
  4. Registered employers can login to complete the online New Hire Reporting Web form or upload a file; or
  5. Choose to submit New Hires using a secure file transfer protocol (sFTP). To use this method, please call (888)-245-1938 to request login credentials and to receive the specified file layout for this method of submission.

Where to Submit New Hire Reports

Employers can submit New Hire Reports by:

  • First class mail to the:
    IDES
    33 S State Street, 10th Floor
    Chicago, IL 60603

  • Or E-mail to:
    DES.NHire@illinois.gov

  • Or Fax to:
    217-557-1947 (24-hour fax line)
For additional information, employers can call: 800-327-HIRE (4473).

For information regarding the file format for reporting via magnetic cartridge or diskette, employers can call: 312-793-6298.

Multi-State Employer Reporting

A multi-state employer:

  • Hires and employs people in two or more states; and
  • Conducts business within each state.
A multi-state employer may select one of the following two reporting options:
  1. Report newly hired employees to the various states in which they are working, following the individual state's New Hire Reporting Program regulations, requirements and timeframes; or
  2. Select a single state to report all newly hired employees.
An employer choosing to send all reports to one state must:

Notify the United States Department of Health and Human Services in writing. The National Directory of New Hires maintains a list of multi-state employers who have elected to use single-state notification. The designated reporting location chosen by these employers is available to all states.

The employer should include the following in the written notification:
  • Employer's FEIN
  • Employer's name (associated with FEIN)
  • Employer's address (associated with FEIN)
  • Employer's telephone number (associated with FEIN)
  • Corporate contact person
  • Name of the state where all reports will be submitted
  • Each state in which the employer has employees
  • Names and FEINs, as well as the states where those subsidiaries have employees working, if the company is reporting new hires on behalf of subsidiaries operating under different names and FEINs
The employer can complete written notification online.

Mail notification to:


Department of Health and Human Services
Office of Child Support Services
Multi-State Employer Registration
P.O. Box 509
Randallstown, MD 21133

Fax notification to:


Fax: 410-277-9325

Multi-state employers, who choose to report to one state, must submit New Hire Reports electronically or magnetically. The multi-state employer should contact the state agency to which it will be reporting to obtain that state's current electronic/magnetic data specifications.

For additional information regarding multi-state reporting, employers can contact 410-277-9470, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. Eastern Time.

Benefits of New Hire Reporting

New hire reporting has many benefits - for families and children, employers, the state and taxpayers. New hire reporting strengthens child support enforcement in Illinois and across the nation by providing a current source of data on the employment of non-custodial parents and alleged fathers.

The most significant benefits are derived from the state's enhanced ability to expedite:

  • Issuance of initial Order/Notices to Withhold Income for Child Support in new cases;
  • Transfer of Order/Notices when a non-custodial parent changes jobs; and
  • The payment of support to custodial parents.
Prior to new hire reporting, employment data from other sources would often be six- to eight-months old. New hire reporting provides a quick turnaround time for getting the information from the employer to child support agencies, increases the reliability of the data received, and ultimately improves the well-being of the families and children depending on child support.

Through data sharing with other programs, new hire reporting provides a powerful tool for reducing fraud in Illinois' public assistance, workers' compensation, and unemployment insurance programs. Employers in particular benefit through the cost savings that come with the reduction and prevention of fraudulent unemployment insurance payments. Timely receipt of new hire data allows each state to cross-match this data against its active unemployment claimant files - either stopping payments or recovering erroneous payments.

In addition, new hire reporting promotes more stability in the workforce, because employees have less incentive to job hop in order to avoid paying child support, since officials can quickly track their movement from job to job. And, employees who are due child support have the additional resources needed to stabilize their home lives and focus on their jobs.

Taxpayers also benefit from new hire reporting through a reduced tax burden. When parents who have not been supporting their children begin paying child support:
  • Families may no longer have a need to apply for assistance or if on public assistance, may no longer need it; and
  • State and federal governments may be reimbursed for public assistance payments.

Employer Penalties for Noncompliance

An employer's failure to report new hires may result in a civil penalty of $15 for each individual whom the employer does not report.