Reference
How to close payroll tax accounts, state by state.
Closing a business does not close its payroll accounts. In most states two separate agencies each hold one, on separate systems, and neither tells the other. This table covers 21 states: who holds the account, what closes it, when it is due, and the specific thing each state gets wrong. Every entry links to the agency's own page and carries the date it was checked.
| State | Agencies | What closes it | Deadline | Fee |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arizona | 2AZTaxes, DES Employer Registration Unit | The final withholding return itself + A written request for voluntary termination | DES voluntary termination accepted only 1 Jan to 31 Mar | $0 |
| California | 1e-Services for Business | Close Account | Final return, wage report and payment within 10 days of last wage paid | $0 |
| Colorado | 2Revenue Online, MyUI Employer | Close the account in Revenue Online + Handled separately | None published | $0 |
| Connecticut | 2myconneCT, CT DOL employer services | Form CT-941 + The registration is cancelled separately with the Department of Labor | Immediately, by filing CT-941 for the current quarter | $0 |
| Georgia | 2Georgia Tax Center, Employer Portal | A close request through the Georgia Tax Center + DOL-1A | None published. Compliance gates the closure | $0 |
| Indiana | 2INTIME, Uplink Employer Self Service | Close the accounts in INTIME + State Form 46800 | SUTA form within 30 days of the decision to cease operations | $0 |
| Maryland | 2Maryland Tax Connect, BEACON | Form MW506FR + Account Maintenance in the BEACON left menu | None published | $0 |
| Massachusetts | 2MassTaxConnect, Unemployment Services for Employers | Cancel the registration in MassTaxConnect + Account Maintenance | None published. Fees accrue while open | $0 |
| Michigan | 2Michigan Treasury Online, MiWAM | Form 163 + UIA Form 1772 | None published | $0 |
| Minnesota | 2e-Services, Employer Self-Service System | The account is closed through e-Services + Terminate an Employer Account inside the Employer Self-Service System | Notify UI electronically within 30 calendar days of termination | $0 |
| Missouri | 2MyTax Missouri, UInteract | Form 5633 + Request to Close Account | None published | $0 |
| New Jersey | 2Online Registration Change service, Employer Payroll Tax filing services | REG-C + NJ-927 | Final NJ-927 within 30 days after the end of the month wages ceased | $0 |
| New York | 2Business Online Services, Employer Services District Offices | Form NYS-45 + No public form | Final NYS-45 within 30 days of ceasing to pay wages | $0 |
| North Carolina | 2NCDOR web-fill, DES employer account services | NC-BN + Handled separately from NC-BN | None published. Penalties accrue while open | $0 |
| Ohio | 2Ohio Business Gateway, ERIC, the Employer Resource Information Center | Final annual reconciliation + No separate public closure form | Final reconciliation and all W-2s within 15 days of closing | $0 |
| Pennsylvania | 2myPATH, UCMS | REV-1706 + UC-2B | None published | $0 |
| South Carolina | 2MyDORWAY, SUITS | MyDORWAY + Handled separately from the Department of Revenue closure | Return required through the closing date | $0 |
| Tennessee | 1Employer e-Services on jobs4TN.gov | LB-0792 | None published | $0 |
| Virginia | 2VATAX Online Services, VEC employer self service | Form R-3 + Handled separately from the R-3 | VA-6 within 30 days of the last month wages were paid | $0 |
| Washington | 3Employer Account Management Services, My DOR, L&I employer account | EMS-8050 + Close my account in My DOR + Revenue passes your closure information to Labor and Industries | Final quarterly report within 10 days of closure | $0 |
| Wisconsin | 2My Tax Account, Employer UI Account Information | The final return itself + Notify Workforce Development that you no longer have employment or that the business is closing | None published. Account self-closes after three years | $0 |
All entries verified 2026-08-03 against the agencies' own pages
What the table shows
- Most states hold your payroll obligations at two separate agencies, and closing one does nothing to the other. Pennsylvania, New York, Michigan, Ohio, Maryland, Missouri, Indiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Connecticut, South Carolina, North Carolina, Colorado, Georgia, and Virginia all work this way.
- Four of the states here run on one account rather than two. California puts withholding, unemployment, training tax, and disability in a single EDD account. New Jersey ends withholding, unemployment, and disability in one registration change. Tennessee has no wage withholding at all. Washington holds three accounts but is the only state that forwards your closure between agencies for you.
- The deadline is usually measured from something earlier than you expect. Ohio counts 15 days from closing the business. California counts 10 days from the last wage paid. Indiana counts 30 days from the decision to cease operations, which can start while you are still trading.
- Almost nothing here costs money. Every state in this table closes an employer payroll account for $0. What costs money is leaving it open, because Indiana issues estimated tax bills, Massachusetts accrues fees, and North Carolina issues non-filing penalties.
- A submitted form is not a closed account. Virginia tells you outright to call after seven business days and confirm. Most states do not tell you that and it is true anyway.
The failure mode in each state
Arizona
A three month window, once a year. The Department of Economic Security accepts a voluntary termination request only between January 1 and March 31, and only if you did not meet any of the conditions requiring unemployment tax payment in the prior calendar year. Miss it and the request waits until next January.
California
The 10-day rule. Your final return, wage report, and payment are due within 10 days of the last wage paid, not on the normal quarterly schedule. Nothing about the regular filing calendar warns you about this, and a business winding down is rarely watching for it.
Colorado
One registration, two closures. A single Colorado application registers you for both Department of Revenue wage withholding and Department of Labor and Employment unemployment insurance. Nothing closes them together. That asymmetry is the whole problem with Colorado, and it catches people who did the registration themselves and remember how easy it was.
Connecticut
Immediately is the actual instruction. Most states give 10, 15, or 30 days. Connecticut says notify Revenue Services immediately when you go out of business or permanently stop paying wages, which leaves no comfortable reading.
Georgia
Compliance gates the closure. Georgia will not close a withholding account while returns are outstanding, so a business that stopped filing when it stopped operating has to file its way current before anything can close. That surprises people who assumed closing the account ended the obligation.
Indiana
Estimated tax bills on a dead business. Indiana states plainly that if the account is not closed on INTIME or the BC-100 is not filed, the Department of Revenue may continue to send bills for estimated taxes. Most states send a notice asking for a return. Indiana sends a bill.
Maryland
Two agencies with nothing in common. The Comptroller wants a form. The Department of Labor wants a menu selection inside BEACON. Neither process resembles the other and neither one triggers the other.
Massachusetts
An open account costs money, not just attention. Massachusetts says an open unemployment account continues to generate reporting obligations and fees even after your last employee is gone. Most states generate notices. This one generates charges.
Michigan
Two forms, two agencies, and no crossover. Form 163 goes to Treasury. UIA 1772 goes to the Unemployment Insurance Agency. Filing one tells the other nothing, and a business that files only Form 163 keeps an open unemployment account.
Minnesota
Thirty calendar days, and it has to be electronic. Minnesota requires the employer to notify the Unemployment Insurance Program electronically using the Employer Self-Service System within 30 calendar days of the business terminating. A letter does not satisfy it and neither does a phone call.
Missouri
Indefinitely ceasing to pay wages counts. Missouri's trigger is not only closing or selling. An employer who stops paying wages indefinitely is expected to file the Final Report, so a business that goes quiet without formally closing still has an obligation.
New Jersey
The deadline is measured oddly. It is 30 days after the end of the month in which wages ceased, not 30 days after the last payroll and not the normal quarterly date. Stop paying wages on March 2 and the clock still runs from March 31.
New York
One return, two agencies. NYS-45 is a combined withholding, wage reporting, and unemployment insurance return, so it looks like a single filing closes everything. The Tax Department's own guidance says to separately contact the Department of Labor about a change in unemployment insurance. A combined return and a combined closure are not the same thing.
North Carolina
Dissolution does not close your tax accounts. This is the important one. If you skip the NC-BN, the Department of Revenue can continue to expect returns and issue penalties for non-filing even after your articles of dissolution have been accepted. People assume the Secretary of State and the Department of Revenue talk to each other. They do not.
Ohio
Fifteen days, and the clock starts at closing. Most states measure from the end of a month or a quarter. Ohio measures from the day the business closed or merged, which means the deadline can land before a business has finished shutting down its bank accounts.
Pennsylvania
Two agencies, and neither one tells the other. Cancelling your withholding account in myPATH does nothing to your UC account. The Department of Revenue's own guidance says to separately notify Labor and Industry about Unemployment Compensation and Workers' Compensation. Businesses close the first account, assume they are finished, and keep getting UC notices for quarters they had no employees.
South Carolina
The fourth quarter return is not a WH-1605. It is the WH-1606, and it is required if the account was open for any portion of the year. Close in February and the WH-1606 is still coming, covering the whole year, not the stub. This is the single most common South Carolina mistake.
Tennessee
The system changed and most guidance did not. As of 2 May 2025 the TNPAWS and Third Party Upload systems are no longer operational. Premium and Wage Reports and payments now go through Employer e-Services on jobs4TN.gov. Anything telling you to use TNPAWS is out of date, and a good deal of it still does.
Virginia
Closing everything and ending one tax type are different boxes. Tick Close a business in its entirety and every account goes. Tick End a Tax Type Liability and you then have to name the specific accounts in Section II on page 2. Businesses keeping a sales tax account open while ending payroll get this wrong in both directions.
Washington
Washington is the exception that proves the rule, and it is worth knowing because it works in your favour. Revenue states that the information you provide when closing is shared, where applicable, with Business Licensing, your Unemployment Insurance account at Employment Security, and your Workers Compensation account at Labor and Industries. In almost every other state each agency has to be told separately. Here one closure starts the others.
Wisconsin
Three years of quarterly reports if you do nothing. Workforce Development will notify you if the account is eligible to close, and after three years it issues an Initial Determination that closes the account by itself. Until then, the quarterly tax and wage reports keep arriving, and each one is a filing obligation.
Using this
This table is free to use and free to cite. If you are a bookkeeper, accountant, or payroll provider handling a client wind-down, link to it rather than rebuilding it. If you find something out of date, tell us and we will check it against the agency and change it.
States are added as they are verified rather than published all at once from guesswork. Where a state is missing, it is because we could not confirm its process against the agency's own material, not because it does not matter. Regcrest is a document preparation and filing service. Nothing here is legal or tax advice.