How many hours will multi-state
filing actually cost you?

It depends on the state. Most online registrations take 1–2 weeks; California and New York can take longer. Before your first payroll in a new state, you typically need accounts with the Department of Revenue (income tax withholding) and Department of Labor (unemployment insurance). Best practice is to start 60 days before your first hire. This calculator shows the one-time registration effort by state.

Ohio and Pennsylvania carry the highest registration burden — Ohio has roughly 593 municipalities and Pennsylvania has about 2,469, meaning you need to determine the right local tax jurisdiction before you can file. This calculator puts both states at 3–4 hours for initial registration alone, compared to 1.3–1.7 hours for simpler states like Texas or Florida.

Yes. Employment tax nexus triggers with a single W-2 employee — there’s no dollar threshold like sales tax. One remote worker in California means you need to register with California’s EDD and FTB before their first paycheck. This calculator assumes at least one W-2 employee in each state you select.

Yes. The roughly 16 states with local income taxes (Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky, and others) carry a heavier per-hire jurisdiction lookup, which is baked into the per-hire onboarding figure. States without local income tax show no local flag.

Both route local income tax through hundreds or thousands of individual municipalities (PA ~2,469 municipalities + 469 school districts; OH ~593 + 181) rather than one statewide system, driving up both registration effort and per-hire determination time.

No, the opposite. Every number assumes you’re registering and filing by hand through each state’s own portal. Payroll software typically cuts this time significantly.

Registration and per-hire onboarding are largely one-time costs. The "Ongoing Annual" total reflects the recurring filing work you’d repeat every year once your accounts are open.