Building your team is an integral part of running a small business. But it’s also one that requires a whole lot of paperwork. Whether it’s tax forms, legal documents, insurance information or general HR paperwork, hiring employees can be incredibly complicated.
Luckily, there are plenty of resources out there that can point you in the right direction of the employment forms you need and we rounded them up. Read on for the full list.
Government Agencies
1. IRS
Visit the IRS’s website for access to several employment forms that you legally need to provide new employees. These include tax and employment eligibility documents.
2. Department of Labor
The U.S. Department of Labor is another resource for legally required I-9 and tax forms, along with some others like direct deposit forms that you can draw information from.
3. elaws
A division of the Department of Labor, elaws stands for employment laws assistance for workers and small businesses. The site provides resources and access to advisors that can help employers and employees know their rights and understand the laws that apply to their businesses.
4. Your State’s Labor Department
Upon hiring your first employees, you will need to register to pay unemployment compensation taxes. You can find and file the necessary forms with your state’s labor department. A list of locations is available in the link above.
5. U.S. Small Business Administration
The SBA website can be a great resource to businesses looking to hire its first employees. The site can help you understand what is expected and legally required of your business during all parts of the hiring process. It can also point you in the direction of the necessary forms or provide information for you to create your own in some instances.
6. Administration for Children & Families
It’s also necessary to report new hires to the Administration for Children & Families’ Office of Child Support Enforcement. This allows child support agencies to quickly find and issue income withholding orders when necessary.
7. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
Employment eligibility forms, or I-9 forms, are required for each new hire to prove they can legally work in the United States. You can find the form on USCIS’s website and just need to keep it on file and make it available to inspection by government agencies.
8. Social Security
Social Security provides guidance on W-2 filing and reporting wages, along with Social Security number and name verification services.
9. Occupational Safety and Health Administration
A division of the U.S. Department of Labor, OSHA oversees health and safety issues in regards to workplaces. It may be necessary for your business to look into OSHA training, resources or forms to ensure that employees are safe and aware of their rights.
10. U.S. Department of Energy
If your business is one that deals with chemicals or other potentially hazardous materials, you may need forms or resources from the Department of Energy’s Chemical Safety Program to ensure employee safety.
11. U.S. General Services Administration
The GSA has a huge variety of forms available for download. Many of them deal specifically with government positions or contractors. But the library also has some general employment type forms that you can download or draw information from.
12. Office of Personnel Management
When it comes to your employee leave policies, there are certain standards and regulations you need to adhere to. The Office of Personnel Management provides leadership on these issues for federal agencies, and provides fact sheets and forms that may help guide your business.
Payroll and Taxes
13. Federation of Tax Administrators
You’ll also need employees to fill out state tax withholding forms. For more information about tax forms and each state’s requirements, the Federation of Tax Administrators provides links to each state’s agency, along with other tax related resources.
14. SurePayroll
An online payroll provider for small businesses, SurePayroll offers a number of payroll services, forms and documents aimed specifically at small businesses.
15. Intuit
Intuit QuickBooks and similar accounting programs offer a variety of forms and templates you can use for new hires, taxes, payroll and similar processes.
16. ADP
ADP provides forms, tools and resources to help businesses manage their payroll and comply with all tax rules on the state and federal levels.
17. Gusto
Formerly ZenPayroll, Gusto is a paid service that offers subscribers digital forms and resources for payroll, tax deductions, benefits, compliance and more.
Healthcare and Insurance
18. Healthcare.gov
The Health Insurance Marketplace offers resources and guidance to small businesses interested in offering health care coverage to employees. The site can also help you understand what is expected and legally required of your business based on its size and number of employees.
19. Health Benefits Advisor
When it comes to group health plans, there are also some federal laws that affect employer coverage. The Health Benefits Advisor, provided by the Department of Labor, includes resources to help employers navigate the process.
20. National Council on Compensation Insurance
Worker’s compensation insurance regulations vary from state to state. But the NCCI provides various resources and forms to help businesses navigate the process.
21. WorkersCompensation.com
This site includes a list of worker’s compensation forms laid out by state, along with links to other worker’s comp related resources, virtual claims kits and more.
22. WorkCompResearch
A division of WorkersCompensation.com, this membership-based platform provides a compliance library, which includes type and save forms, a legal library, benefits calculators and more.
Legal
23. Nolo
Nolo is a provider of legal books, software and other resources. The site includes various forms and guidance about what information your business is legally required to supply.
24. LegalZoom
This resource is full of forms and templates that may be helpful or necessary for your employees. The LegalZoom site includes things like employment applications, independent contractor agreements and nondisclosure forms.
25. LawDepot
LawDepot’s platform offers a way for businesses to create their own employment and other business forms. You just provide a few pieces of information about your business, depending on the type of form, and the site generates a finished product that you can download and print for free.
26. Rocket Lawyer
Rocket Lawyer is an online service that connects users with legal help and resources. It has a section full of employer documents including employment applications, contracts and release of liability.
27. U.S. Legal Forms
This site breaks down forms that deal with employment law by state, so you can be sure to have the necessary information through each step of the hiring process. It also offers legal handbooks and other resources.
28. Upcounsel
An online service aimed at connecting businesses with legal services, Upcounsel also offers a library of free legal documents for download. Some of the documents even cater to specific industries like catering or construction.
29. Docracy
Docracy offers an open collection of free legal documents, including a range of employment related forms, that anyone can access through a quick search on the site. You can also use the platform to quickly sign digital documents.
30. AllLaw
Another resource that provides forms dealing with a variety of legal issues, AllLaw has a section specifically for employment forms including Affirmative Action information forms, contractor agreements and disciplinary notices.
Human Resources
31. Society for Human Resource Management
The SHRM site includes news, tips, sample forms and templates and other resources to help ensure you obtain all the information you need when hiring.
32. Zenefits
Zenefits is an all-in-one HR platform offering both software and services to help businesses stay compliant, manage employees and ensure that all of the necessary forms and information are in place.
33. HR360
This site includes a variety of HR related forms and checklists, including compliance checklists, health plan audits and direct deposit forms.
34. HR Service Inc.
This subscription based platform offers members access to a HR resource center full of hiring forms, templates, guidelines and other tools. Plans start at $30 per month and include various other benefits for HR professionals or small businesses.
35. HR Hero
HR Hero’s website offers links to forms and other resources related to all things HR, along with a store that has various HR products for purchase.
General Business
36. National Federation of Independent Business
The NFIB provides access to resources related to all areas of business ownership. Membership offers HR support, along with information about necessary parts of hiring, like insurance, taxes and legal issues.
37. Bloomberg BNA
Bloomberg’s Bureau of National Affairs is a site that offers access to legal, tax, health and safety, and payroll resources. The platform provides products, events, news and other resources, many of which are related to human resource issues.
38. BLR
BLR, or Business and Legal Resources, provides a number of sample forms including employment applications, compensation forms and other HR related resources. The website also includes information about federal and state requirements, along with links to other resources.
39. Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur offers a variety of business form templates for free download, including those related to employment, such as job application forms and employee reviews.
40. Businessweek
Bloomberg Businessweek also has a large library of business related forms and templates, including those related to human resources and legal matters.
41. Nonprofit Risk Management Center
The Nonprofit Risk Management Center provides resources and services related to staffing, financial and other risk related issues.
42. BizFilings
Another resource for a variety of different business forms and information, BizFilings provides free HR downloads ranging from workplace safety to overtime policies.
43. Office Depot
The major office supply chain‘s website has a list of business form templates, including a list related specifically to recruiting and hiring and links to IRS and state tax forms.
44. FormSwift
FormSwift is a document creation and signing platform. It includes a number of templates for small businesses that can help you quickly create professional and legally binding documents.
45. SME Toolkit
From IFC and IBM, SME Toolkit offers members access to templates, forms and other resources that cover everything from job descriptions to termination.
46. Biztree
Biztree is a document template software that includes templates that you can edit and download. You can use it to create things like leave policies, code of ethics and employee handbooks.
47. SCORE
This nonprofit association‘s site offers resources including forms and templates for a variety of business processes, including HR and employment.
48. At Your Business
At Your Business is an online community of business members and consultants. The site offers free, pre-written documents and forms for a wide range of business types and categories.
49. Frugal Entrepreneur
The Frugal Entrepreneur site has a collection of downloadable business forms broken down by category. The HR and employment section includes things like employee reference checks, performance reports and emergency contact forms.
50. TidyForms
This site offers form templates that aren’t necessarily specific to business operations. But there is a business section complete with some employment related forms like job applications and agreements.
Form Filling Photo via Shutterstock
