Hiring your first employee in Nevada

What do you have to register for before your first payroll?

One registration covers two of the payroll obligations: when you open your unemployment insurance account with the Employment Security Division, the Department of Taxation says you are automatically registered for the Modified Business Tax, so there is no second payroll tax sign-up. Nothing else is bundled. The state business license from the Secretary of State, the sales tax permit from the Department of Taxation, your workers compensation policy from a private insurer and new hire reporting are four separate steps with their own logins. The order matters too: the Department of Taxation says you need a federal EIN before you can get the state business license through SilverFlume, and the business license before you can register for a tax permit in My Nevada Tax.

Does Nevada require income tax withholding?

No. Nevada does not tax wage income, so there is no state withholding account to open and nothing to deduct from a paycheck for the state.

Nevada takes nothing out of a paycheck for state income tax, and this is a constitutional bar rather than a policy that could change next session: Article 10, Section 1(9) of the Nevada Constitution says no income tax shall be levied upon the wages or personal income of natural persons. The same subsection then permits taxes on the income or revenue of a business, which is why the state charges the employer instead. So the employer still owes the Modified Business Tax, a quarterly payroll tax on its own wage bill. For a general business the rate printed on the current return is 1.17% (0.0117) of the quarter's gross wages after subtracting employer-paid health insurance costs and after a $50,000 per calendar quarter threshold, so a business paying under $50,000 of net wages in a quarter owes nothing but must still file. The Department's rate page puts financial institutions and businesses paying the Net Proceeds of Minerals tax at 1.554% with no $50,000 threshold, but the financial institutions return still posted on the site is the October 2022 edition printing 1.853%, so a bank or mining employer should confirm the rate with the Department before filing. Returns are due the last day of the month after each quarter, and from 1 January 2026 the Department has resumed its quarterly wage comparison, matching the gross wages on your Modified Business Tax return against the wages you reported to the Employment Security Division and billing the difference. You still withhold federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare as normal.

What unemployment insurance does Nevada charge a new employer?

A new Nevada employer pays 2.95% on the first $43,700 each employee earns, so roughly $1,289 per employee in the first year. The trigger to register is low: an employing unit that pays $225 or more in Nevada wages in any calendar quarter must register and pay. New employers pay 2.95% and keep that rate for 14 to 17 calendar quarters, depending which quarter they became liable, before experience rating takes over and puts them somewhere on an 18 step schedule running from 0.25% to 5.40%. Budget for slightly more than the headline rate, because almost every employer also pays 0.05% for the Career Enhancement Program on top, taking a new employer to 3.00% in practice. Tax is owed on the first $43,700 of each employee's wages in 2026, up from $41,800 in 2025, and the Division has already published $45,400 for 2027. The base is recalculated every year at two thirds of the average annual Nevada wage, so it moves each January. Quarterly reports are due 31 January, 30 April, 31 July and 31 October.

Do you need workers compensation insurance in Nevada?

Yes, from your first employee. Nevada sets no headcount to reach, so there is no free window before coverage is required.

• every private employer with any person in service under a contract of hire, from the first employee
• licensed contractors, who are deemed the employer of their subcontractors, independent contractors and those workers' employees

There is no headcount to reach. The Division's own guidance quotes NRS 616B.612: every person, firm, voluntary association and private corporation which has in service any person under a contract of hire needs coverage unless a statute excludes them, so one employee is enough. Two things catch people out. First, if you hold a Nevada contractor licence, NRS 616A.210 deems subcontractors, independent contractors and their employees to be your employees for coverage purposes, and if one of them is injured while uninsured you pay the actual cost of the claim plus administrative fees. Second, calling someone an independent contractor does not help unless the independent enterprise test in NRS 616B.603 is met, which requires that they hold a licence or own or lease business property in their own name and that they are not in the same trade or business as you. Officers and managers of a corporation or limited-liability company can reject coverage for themselves under NRS 616B.624, but that must be in writing to both the company and the insurer and does not touch the duty to cover anyone else. Failing to carry coverage is a misdemeanour for a first offence.

How quickly must you report a new hire in Nevada?

Within 20 days of hire or rehire, or twice per month if you report electronically. Reports go to the Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation, Employment Security Division, New Hire Unit.

Anyone for whom the IRS requires a W-4 must be reported, and a rehire counts again once the worker has been separated for 60 days or more. Reports go to the Employment Security Division rather than to child support directly, which is the same agency that holds your unemployment account but a different unit and a different submission. Nevada does not require a particular form: secure file transfer is preferred, and copies of the W-4 or any written format carrying the seven required data items are accepted by mail or fax. NRS 606.120 lets the Division set a civil penalty of less than $25 per employer who fails to comply, so the money at stake is small, but the report is not optional.

Does Nevada have paid family leave or state disability insurance?

No. Nevada runs no state paid family leave fund and no state disability insurance, so there is no payroll deduction of that kind and no extra account to open.

Nevada runs no state disability insurance or paid family leave fund, so there is no payroll deduction and no employer contribution for one. It does have a paid leave mandate, which is a different thing and is often mistaken for a state programme. Under NRS 608.0197 a private employer with 50 or more employees in Nevada must give every employee at least 0.01923 hours of paid leave for each hour worked, which is roughly 40 hours a year for someone full time, usable for any reason and carrying over up to 40 hours unless the employer front loads it. A business is exempt for its first two years of operation, and an employer whose existing paid time off policy already meets that accrual rate is treated as compliant. This is a cost you carry directly, not a premium you remit.

Do you need a sales tax permit in Nevada?

The permit costs $15 for each location, and it is a separate permit per place of business rather than one statewide licence, so a second Nevada location means a second $15 application. You cannot register for it first: the Department requires a federal EIN, then a state business license through SilverFlume, and only then a Sales and Use Tax permit through My Nevada Tax. A business that buys but does not resell registers instead for a Consumer Use Tax account, which the Department does not charge the permit fee for. Once you hold the permit a return is due every period even in a period with zero sales, late payment carries a penalty rising from 2% to a maximum of 10% by days late plus 0.75% interest a month, and you must tell the Department immediately if you close or sell the business.

Security deposits. The Department may require a cash or other security deposit under NRS 372.510; its own guidance notes that any security deposited is returned only after the account is cleared on closure. No standard amount is published.

Does a marketplace like Amazon or Etsy handle the tax for you?

A marketplace facilitator that provides the infrastructure for a sale and collects the money must register and remit Nevada sales tax on the sales it facilitates, and it gives its sellers a Marketplace Facilitator Certificate of Collection as proof. If you have no physical presence in Nevada and sell only through facilitators that are registered and collecting, you do not need your own permit. The catch is the threshold arithmetic: the Department adds your marketplace sales and your direct sales together when working out whether you have crossed $100,000 or 200 transactions, so marketplace volume can push your own website sales into a registration duty even though the marketplace sales themselves are not yours to collect on.

If your sales drop, when can you stop collecting?

Nevada's duty to collect does not switch off the moment sales dip. Once total Nevada sales exceed $100,000 or 200 separate transactions in the previous or current calendar year, you collect for the rest of that year and the whole of the following calendar year. If sales fall below the threshold during that second year, you stop collecting in the third year but the Department still expects you to report the sales, so the account and the filing duty outlive the collection duty.

Does Nevada charge a tax on revenue rather than profit?

This is the tax that stands in for a corporate income tax, and it is charged on Nevada gross revenue with no deduction for cost of goods or payroll. The $4,000,000 is a genuine exclusion rather than a cliff: the tax is Nevada gross revenue minus $4,000,000, multiplied by your category rate, so a business at $5,000,000 of Nevada revenue is taxed on $1,000,000. Most small businesses never touch it, and since the 2018 to 2019 tax year a business at or under $4,000,000 does not even have to file a return. The year runs 1 July to 30 June and the return is due 45 days after it ends, which is 14 August, with a 30 day extension available for good cause and 0.75% monthly interest on late payment. The part worth knowing even if you do owe it: 50% of the Commerce Tax you paid credits against your Modified Business Tax over the four quarters following that Commerce Tax year, so the two taxes are linked and you should not calculate one without the other.

Do you have to register your out-of-state company in Nevada?

Foreign LLC: $425, which is the $75 registration fee under NRS 86.561, the $150 initial list of managers under NRS 86.5461 and the $200 state business license under NRS 76.100, all three due in the same submission. Foreign corporation: no single figure, because the registration fee is scaled to authorized stock under NRS 78.760, running from $75 where the shares represent $75,000 or less up to a $35,000 cap, and no par shares are valued at $1 each for that calculation, so a corporation authorising a million no par shares is already at $375 rather than $75. Add the $150 initial list under NRS 80.110 and the $500 state business license, which is higher for corporations than for every other entity type, giving a floor of $725 for the smallest possible share structure.

The state business license is the fee that catches people out, and it can bite before you ever register an entity. NRS 76.100 deems you to be conducting business in Nevada if you pay wages to a natural person who performs any of their paid duties in the state, so a single remote worker in Las Vegas puts an out-of-state company inside the licence requirement. It costs $200 a year, or $500 a year for a corporation, it renews annually alongside the list of officers or managers, and a late renewal adds a $100 penalty and is treated as a failure to file the annual list, which puts the entity into default and eventually revokes its right to transact business. Two exemptions are worth knowing: a home based business whose net earnings are 66 2/3 percent or less of the state average annual wage, and a natural person whose only business is renting four or fewer dwelling units. Registering with the Secretary of State is also separate from registering with the Department of Taxation, and a foreign corporation that willfully fails to qualify faces a fine of $1,000 to $10,000 and cannot bring or maintain a lawsuit in a Nevada court until it does.

Where these figures come from

Every number on this page was read on Nevada's own agency pages, its statute, or a current-year official form, and this record was last reviewed on 2026-09-08. Where a state's explainer page disagreed with its statute or its current form, we followed the statute or the form and said so in the relevant section, because a state's consumer-facing pages are often the last thing updated when a figure changes.

Anything we could not confirm on a primary source is left blank rather than estimated. A missing figure on this page means we could not verify it, not that it is zero.

This is general information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change and your circumstances matter. Confirm anything you are about to act on with the agency named beside it.