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Employer Requirements - Record Keeping

Record-Keeping

Arizona law requires all employers, whether or not they have been determined liable to pay unemployment taxes, to keep the following records for the most recent four calendar years.

  1. Check stubs and canceled checks for all payments.
  2. Cash receipts and disbursement records.
  3. Payroll journal.
  4. General journal and general ledger.
  5. Copies of tax reports filed with all federal and state agencies.
  6. Copies of W-2(s) and W-3(s).
  7. Other accounting records as may be required.
  8. For each payroll period, the:
    • beginning and ending dates of each pay period,
    • total amount of remuneration paid for all services, whether paid in cash, by check, or in any other manner, and the date of each such payment, and
    • date in each week on which the largest number of individuals worked and the number of individuals who worked on that day.
  9. For each worker, the:
    • first and last name,
    • Social Security number,
    • date hired, rehired, or returned to work,
    • date employment ended and the reason(s) for separation from work,
    • amount of remuneration paid in each calendar quarter,
    • amount of remuneration paid each pay period, including the value of any remuneration in a form other than cash,
    • amount and date of any special payment, such as a bonus, gift, or prize, and
    • place in which services were performed.

Reporting changes to your business

When any change in your business occurs, it is your responsibility to notify the department promptly. A delay could result in additional costs to you later. Be sure to report changes such as:

  1. Selling your business,
  2. Discontinuing your business,
  3. Acquiring another business,
  4. Changing ownership of your business,
  5. Changing legal form of your business (incorporating, etc.),
  6. Changing your business name, and
  7. Changing your address.

A Report of Changes form (UC-514) is mailed with your quarterly Unemployment Tax and Wage Report (UC-018) for your convenience in reporting changes. You may also report a change by using our online Tax and Wage System (TWS), by contacting the Employer Registration Unit or by completing and submitting the UC-514 form. Telephone contact should be followed up with a written confirmation to the Employer Registration Unit.

SUTA dumping hurts everyone – employers, employees, and taxpayers make up the difference in higher taxes, lost jobs, lost profits, lower wages, and higher costs for goods and services.

Providing information to your employees

Arizona law requires that you post in your place of business a Notice to Employees (POU-003) or Aviso a Los Empleados (POU-003S) that provides information about the Unemployment Insurance program to your employees.  

You are also required to provide a printed statement containing information about filing for unemployment benefits when one of your employees becomes unemployed. A pamphlet entitled, Take Care of Unemployment Business by the Internet or Telephone (links shown below) fulfills this requirement when printed out and provided to the employee. Please note that the AZ Unemployment Insurance Call Center (ARRA) hours have changed to 8:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m.  Applications for Unemployment Insurance Benefits can be filed online. The online application system is available from 12:01 a.m. Sunday until 5 p.m. Friday (if an official State holiday falls on a Friday, the system would be available until 5 p.m. Thursday).

A more detailed booklet entitled A Guide to Arizona Unemployment Insurance Benefits (PAU-007) is also available online.  Visit the Document Center page, select "unemployment" from the Filter by Category dropdown and type "A Guide to Arizona UI Benefits" into the Search box, then click Apply (type "Una Guia a los Beneficios" to search for the Spanish pamphlet).

Additional information about workplace posters may be found at:

Reporting New Hires

Federal and state law require all employers to report newly hired and re-hired employees in Arizona to the Arizona New Hire Reporting Center within 20 days of their hire date.

New hire reporting accelerates the child support income withholding order process, expedites collection of child support from parents who frequently change jobs, and promptly locates alleged non-custodial parents to help establish paternity and child support orders. It also helps to detect and prevent improper payments of unemployment insurance, workers compensation, and welfare benefits to undeserving recipients.

The use of this information provides financial support for Arizona's deserving families and helps to reduce the costs of unemployment insurance, workers compensation, and welfare.

For detailed information regarding requirements and guidelines for the Arizona New Hire Reporting Program, visit the Arizona New Hire Reporting Center.

Employers can make a big difference for employees who pay child support

Three simple steps are all it takes for employers to make sure that the support payments they withhold from a check help their employees. Your employees depend on you to deduct the court-ordered amount and send that payment so that they get credit for it. Here are three easy steps to help you make a big difference in their lives:

  1. Include your employee's name and ATLAS case number on your remittance. Without this information, your employees may not get credit for payments you made on their behalf.
  2. Include the pay period from which you deducted the payment. We don't need to know when the check was issued or when the payment to the Support Payment Clearinghouse was issued. We need to know what pay period this payment came from. The employees receive credit for the pay period, not the date of the check.
  3. Pay the court-ordered monthly amount. If you pay your employees on a weekly or every-other-week basis, this does not satisfy the monthly court-ordered amount. Just like the insurance premiums that you deduct, support is based on a monthly amount. If you divide the annual support by 52 weeks or 26 weeks, your payments may put your employees in an "arrears" status. This could cause interest to accrue on their record, make their pay record appear to be delinquent, and adversely affect their credit rating.

Support Payment Clearinghouse - Effective October 1, 1998, each state was required by the federal Personal Responsibility and work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 to establish a centralized State Collections and Disbursement Unit for the collection and disbursement of all child-support payments. In Arizona, payment for all income withholding orders must be remitted to:

Support Payment Clearinghouse
P.O. Box 52107
Phoenix, Arizona 85072-2107

The above address is to be used only for cases where employers receive an income withholding order or court order with this address. Visit the Payment Gateway for other options.

This centralized, privatized approach provides enhanced customer service to parents and especially to employers by mandating one point of receipt for all support payments.

Promptly reporting all new hires can also help promote the integrity of the Unemployment Insurance Program by discontinuing benefits of claimants who have returned to work.

Your employees work hard for you. Help us help your employees. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the Division of Child Support Services Customer Service.

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