Complete Guide to New Employee Paperwork: Required Forms and Documents for 2025

Make new employee paperwork for 2025 easier with a clear checklist of required hiring forms, documents, and compliance steps. Support HR and small business owners with practical tips for organizing onboarding packets, benefit elections, direct deposit, and policy acknowledgments.

By Brad Nakase, Attorney

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Table of Contents

1. Introduction

2. Importance of an onboarding plan

3. New Hire Pre-Employment Forms

4. Policies and Agreements of the Company

5. Additional Independent Forms

6. State-specific New Hire Documentation and Compliance

7. Paperwork requirement for new hires: The importance

8. Most important forms for new hires to complete

9. Ensuring that the new employee paperwork gets completed in a timely and accurate manner

10. Online completion of hiring paperwork

11. A new employee didn’t fill out the required paperwork: What can happen?

Introduction

Before they can officially start working for your organization, new hires must complete a number of procedures. One of these is the paperwork associated with new hires, which may be tiresome for both the worker and the human resources manager, who must onboard a lot of staff members each month. A favorable onboarding experience is therefore dependent on having the right paperwork and an established onboarding procedure in place.

Importance of an onboarding plan

To maintain compliance with federal and state employment rules, your new-hire documentation packet must include certain documents, particularly legal ones. You can establish a collection of legal papers for income tax and comparable requirements by following the standards provided by several government agencies, including the IRS, the US Department of Labor, plus the Department of Homeland Security.

Other documents, like the corporate policy forms and staff handbook, are highly customized to your business. You can email them to staff members at your own pace. Actually, introducing this documentation gradually during the onboarding process is a smart concept.

Here are some specifics regarding important considerations to make while creating new hire documentation.

New Hire Pre-Employment Forms

A new hire must acquire and sign several documents before they can start working on their first day.

1. Letter of Offer

This offer letter lays out all the key details about the job.

Job type
Start Date
Compensation
Additional benefits

The employee must sign the offer letter and deliver it to the company for filing if they agree to its terms.

2. Authorization Form for Background Checks

A criminal/background record check authorization is one of the first documents you will need for fresh hires to sign if it is required by your company policy. Usually, the background check report just gives a pass or fail. It doesn’t get into the nitty-gritty. Once the background check is done and you hire the person, go ahead and file a copy of the results with their records.

3. Consent Form for Drug Testing

A consent document for the taking of urine or saliva and the dissemination of the subsequent drug and alcohol test results to the employer must be signed by the new recruit if the company requires an initial drug test for fresh hires.

4. Verification of Employment Eligibility (Form I-9)

A potential employee’s job eligibility & legal authority are verified via Form I-9. The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) states that numerous businesses must maintain this paperwork.

Employees must finish the parts for employers and employees by their initial day of work.

Employers have 3 days after a new hire starts work to fill out the I-9 form. They should also check the employee’s ID in person.

Keep the I-9 form for three years after the hire date or one year after the employee’s departure (whichever is later). Store these forms separately from other personnel files.

You also have to use E-Verify. It is to confirm that the employee can work in the US. Don’t forget to double-check your state’s requirements & finish all paperwork on time.

5. Forms for federal taxes (Form W-4)

W-4 is a document used for tax reporting. The IRS requires new hires to complete this form. W-4 provides guidance on how much should be deducted from an employee’s paycheck in order to pay the appropriate amount of federal income tax. If a newly hired worker needs to modify their withholding, they should complete this form & submit a revision.

6. Form for State Tax Withholding, If Applicable

A supplementary state-specific form W-4 will be needed alongside the federal form in states that impose a state income tax. If your state requires it, make sure that all new employees fill out one of these forms, as they differ from one another.

7. Data Form for Equal Opportunity

All government contractors having at least fifty workers that fulfill specific requirements, as well as private sector companies with 100 or more employees, must submit an equal opportunity data form. Employees can learn more about your hiring process from this document. The EEO-1 Survey is made available digitally by many companies as a component of the application procedure.

8. Forms for New Employee Benefits

If you provide benefits to your employees, you have to provide each new worker with the terms & conditions of such benefits. If you offer perks, you must record them both internally and for taxation.

The following are the most typical benefits, though they will vary depending on your organization, size, and type of benefits offered:

Life insurance
Health insurance
Retirement plans
Health, care, and wellness benefits (mental wellness programs, gym memberships, etc.)
Stock options
Tuition reimbursement
PTO & sick leaves
Disability insurance

9. Form for Direct Deposit

A lot of workers want to have their funds moved straight into their savings accounts. The direct deposit form gives the employer permission to make regular deposits into the worker’s bank account. To complete the transaction, the employer must have the documentation on file.

Policies and Agreements of the Company

Although they are typically not required by any federal, state, or additional regulatory bodies, the forms mentioned below are essential for the successful onboarding of new employees. These represent some of the most typical needs for these forms; however, each organization will have its own.

1. Employment Agreement or Contract

The rights and responsibilities of both you and your employees are described in an employment agreement. It will be longer than a letter of offer and will contain any special requirements associated with your employment procedure.

Most jobs in right-to-work states don’t involve employment contracts. If you’re not sure whether or not you need an agreement, you might wish to ask your lawyer. Whether it is necessary or not, we advise including one with the employment offer and allowing staff members to review and sign it.

The following should be included in the employment contract:

Details of the job
Duration of employment
Schedule of work
Employee obligations
Benefits and compensation
Grounds for potential termination

2. Employee Handbook Receipt Acknowledgment

An employee handbook provides information about how you run your business, legal and human resource issues, company policies, and incentives. Ideally, this handbook would be distributed to employees in advance for their review and for signing a receipt acknowledgement.

3. Policy Acknowledgments

Make sure that on the initial day, new recruits review and approve any additional policies that aren’t in your handbook. Include it in your new hire packet if you have a written policy regarding Internet use or security and privacy.

A non-disclosure agreement (NDA) protects a company’s sensitive information. Strategic business information, customer data, employee contact information, and other private details may be accessed by new hires. They must pledge to retain secrecy for them to enter into a non-disclosure agreement.

A non-compete clause helps a business protect itself from employees leaving one company to work for a competitor within the same industry. An employee is prohibited from joining a direct competitor for a specified time and within a specified geographic region by a non-compete provision.

The code of conduct details an institution’s standards, values, and expectations for all staff.

4. Contact Details for Emergencies

Having the emergency contact details of every employee on file is a smart idea. The individual’s name, telephone number, mailing address, and relationship to the employee are all included in this simple form.

For a number of reasons related to safety and health, you can also ask for the personal information of your new hires.

In the event of an emergency, just ask them to provide all the information that would enable you to aid them or get in touch with them directly (or just indirectly).

Additional Independent Forms

New hires may also need to fill out a few extra papers, depending on your company and circumstances.

An application for a permit for parking and/or keycard, if you are employed in a business building where such documents are required.
Employees can use business devices like laptops and phones when working remotely or at home as long as they sign an IT equipment contract form acknowledging that the devices belong to the firm and must be used properly and returned.

State-specific New Hire Documentation and Compliance

You may need to adhere to state-specific new employee paperwork, procedures, and restrictions, depending on which state you are recruiting in. These may consist of:

Reporting of new hires in the state
Forms for state income taxes
Employment rules that vary by state

Paperwork requirement for new hires: The importance

Complying with state and federal regulations, confirming job eligibility, enrolling workers in benefit plans, and creating relevant employment rules and work agreements all require new employee paperwork.

Most important forms for new hires to complete

Form W-4 for withholding taxes, Form I-9 for job eligibility confirmation, and any company-specific documents for benefits registration, direct deposit arrangement, and emergency contact information are the most important documents that new recruits must complete.

Ensuring that the new employee paperwork gets completed in a timely and accurate manner

The ability to provide electronic forms and record-keeping capabilities, by giving clear directions and due dates, and by establishing an efficient process for bringing on new employees, means that HR is better equipped to facilitate the timely completion of new employee paperwork with as little fuss as possible.

Online completion of hiring paperwork

It is possible to use electronic signatures and form management solutions to complete new hire documentation online. This automatically validates data and saves records, which expedites the new employee paperwork cycle and enhances accuracy and adherence.

A new employee didn’t fill out the required paperwork: What can happen?

Incomplete new employee paperwork can impact payroll. A new hire not completing the necessary paperwork can lead to inaccurate tax withholding, unreported and late benefits enrollment, and even compliance issues. Have a system in place for collecting straggler paperwork, and communicate the consequences of non-compliance.

Have a quick question? We answered nearly 2000 FAQs.

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Complete Guide to New Employee Paperwork: Required Forms and Documents for 2025

Introduction

Importance of an onboarding plan

New Hire Pre-Employment Forms

Policies and Agreements of the Company

Additional Independent Forms

State-specific New Hire Documentation and Compliance

Paperwork requirement for new hires: The importance

Most important forms for new hires to complete

Ensuring that the new employee paperwork gets completed in a timely and accurate manner

Online completion of hiring paperwork

A new employee didn’t fill out the required paperwork: What can happen?

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