Texas · Payroll registration
Texas payroll tax registration, done for you.
Texas has no state income tax on wages, so there is no withholding account. Payroll here means one account, unemployment tax with the Texas Workforce Commission, and you have 10 days from becoming liable to register. The question worth getting right is when liability actually started.
Who you are dealing with
Texas Workforce Commission
- Handles:
- Unemployment tax account. There is no state wage withholding account in Texas
- System:
- Unemployment Tax Registration
- Form:
- Register online through Unemployment Tax Registration, which is free and issues a TWC tax account number with confirmation. Form C-1, the Employer's Registration Status Report, is the route when you cannot register online
State fee. $0. The Texas Workforce Commission does not charge to register an unemployment tax account. Our flat fee covers the registration.
When you have to register
You must register within 10 days of becoming liable. Liability arrives when you pay $1,500 or more in total wages during any single calendar quarter in the current or preceding year, or when you employ at least one person for any part of a day in 20 or more different calendar weeks in a year. The second test is the one people miss, because it counts weeks rather than money.
What comes next
Not applicable to a registration. For later: the quarterly report is the C-3, and closing the account runs through Unemployment Tax Services rather than a separate cancellation form.
How long it takes
Registering online through Unemployment Tax Registration takes about 20 minutes and issues the TWC tax account number with confirmation at the end. That is unusually fast for this work and it is the reason we use the online route wherever the account qualifies for it.
What we do
We work out exactly which accounts you need, prepare and submit each registration, and hand you the account numbers, rates, and deposit schedules your payroll system asks for. One flat price per account, and any state fee passed through at cost.
What makes Texas harder than average
- Two liability tests, and either one triggers it. The $1,500 in a calendar quarter test is the obvious one. The 20 different calendar weeks test catches a business paying small amounts to one person across most of a year, which never approaches $1,500 in any single quarter.
- The lookback covers the preceding year. Liability can attach because of what happened last year, not only this one, so a business reviewing only the current year can conclude it is not liable when it already is.
- Ten days is short and it runs from liability, not from noticing. Because the tests are retrospective, the 10 days can already have started before anyone has done the arithmetic.
- The paper form needs the right signature. Form C-1 must be signed by an owner, officer, partner, or someone with valid written authorisation already on file with the Commission. A bookkeeper without that on file cannot sign it.
- No withholding account is genuinely less work, and it changes what payroll software expects. Texas fields that ask for a state withholding ID have no answer, which is correct rather than a gap.
Questions and answers
Do I need a Texas withholding account?
No. Texas does not tax wages, so there is no state wage withholding account. Payroll in Texas means the unemployment tax account with the Texas Workforce Commission and nothing else.
When does Texas require me to register?
Within 10 days of becoming liable. Liability starts when you pay $1,500 or more in total wages in any single calendar quarter in the current or preceding year, or when you employ at least one person for any part of a day in 20 or more different calendar weeks in a year.
I only pay one person a small amount. Am I liable?
Possibly, through the second test. Employing at least one person for any part of a day in 20 or more different calendar weeks in a year creates liability regardless of the amount. Tell us the pattern and we will work it out.
How long does registration take?
The online Unemployment Tax Registration service takes around 20 minutes and issues the TWC tax account number with confirmation at the end. It is the fastest state registration we handle.
What do you need from me to start?
The legal name and FEIN, entity type, Texas work locations, the date wages were first paid, your quarterly wage totals, and who is authorised to sign if a paper C-1 is required.
Agency details verified 2026-08-03