When is unemployment tax due for NYS Department of Labor quarterly filing?
I'm really confused about the quarterly unemployment tax deadlines for my small business. I've been paying employees for about 8 months now and just realized I need to file with NYS Department of Labor. My accountant mentioned something about quarterly due dates but didn't give me specifics. When exactly are these unemployment taxes due? I'm worried I might have already missed a deadline and don't know what penalties I'm looking at. Has anyone dealt with late filings before?
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Sasha Ivanov
Quarterly unemployment taxes are due to NYS Department of Labor on the last day of the month following each quarter. So Q1 (Jan-Mar) is due April 30th, Q2 (Apr-Jun) is due July 31st, Q3 (Jul-Sep) is due October 31st, and Q4 (Oct-Dec) is due January 31st of the following year. You file using Form NYS-45 and pay through the NYS Business Express system.
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Miguel Hernández
•Thank you! So if I started paying employees in March, I would have needed to file for Q1 by April 30th? I definitely missed that deadline.
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Liam Murphy
yeah the penalties can be pretty steep if you're late. i missed one quarter last year and they hit me with like a 25% penalty plus interest. definitely get caught up ASAP
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Miguel Hernández
•Oh no, 25%? That's going to hurt. Do you know if there's any way to appeal penalties for first-time filers?
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Amara Okafor
For penalty relief, you can request a waiver if this is your first time filing and you can show reasonable cause for the delay. Call the NYS Department of Labor employer services line, but good luck getting through - their phone system is terrible. I spent hours on hold last month trying to resolve a similar issue. There's actually a service called Claimyr at claimyr.com that helped me get connected to an actual person at NYS Department of Labor. They have a video demo at https://youtu.be/qyftW-mnTNI showing how it works.
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Miguel Hernández
•Thanks for the tip about Claimyr! I'll check that out. Did they actually waive your penalties?
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Amara Okafor
•They reduced them by about 75% since I could prove it was an honest mistake and I filed as soon as I realized the error.
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CaptainAwesome
Don't forget you also need to register for unemployment insurance before your first quarter filing if you haven't already. The NYS Department of Labor requires employer registration within 10 days of becoming liable for UI taxes.
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Yuki Tanaka
THE WHOLE SYSTEM IS A NIGHTMARE! I've been filing these stupid quarterly reports for 3 years and they STILL send me penalty notices for no reason. Half the time their own website doesn't work properly during filing season. And don't get me started on trying to reach anyone by phone - it's like they don't want employers to actually comply with the law!
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Esmeralda Gómez
•I hear you on the website issues. Sometimes I have to try multiple browsers just to get the filing to go through.
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Anna Kerber
Also worth noting that if you have employees working in multiple states, you'll need to file separate quarterly reports for each state. New York only covers wages paid to employees working in NY. Make sure you're calculating the taxable wage base correctly too - for 2025, it's the first $12,300 of each employee's annual wages. The tax rate varies depending on your experience rating, but new employers typically start around 4.1%. Keep detailed payroll records because NYS Department of Labor can audit up to 4 years back.
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Kai Rivera
•This is really helpful information about the wage base and tax rates! I had no idea about the 4-year audit window - that's definitely something to keep in mind. Since I'm new to all this, do you know if there are any specific record-keeping requirements beyond just payroll records? Like do I need to maintain copies of the actual quarterly filings or just rely on what's in the NYS Business Express system?
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