What Virginia payroll taxes do I need to file for my small business?

If you have employees in Virginia, you have filing obligations at both the state and federal level. Missing any of them triggers penalties, so it’s worth understanding the full picture before your first payroll runs.

The VA-5 is your Virginia employer withholding return. Every time you withhold state income tax from employee wages, you need to report and remit that amount to the Virginia Department of Taxation. How often you file depends on your total withholding volume. Most small businesses file monthly or quarterly. If your withholding exceeds certain thresholds, you move to a semi-weekly deposit schedule. The department assigns your filing frequency when you register, and they can adjust it as your payroll grows.

The VA-6 is an annual reconciliation that’s due by January 31 each year. It summarizes all the state withholding you reported on your VA-5 filings throughout the year and reconciles that against the W-2s you issued to employees. Think of it as Virginia’s way of making sure everything adds up.

The Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) requires quarterly unemployment tax reports. You’ll report wages paid to each employee and pay your state unemployment insurance (SUI) tax. New employers in Virginia receive a standard tax rate until they build enough history for an experience-based rate. These quarterly reports are due by the end of the month following each quarter.

Virginia also requires new hire reporting within 20 days of an employee’s start date. This applies to every new hire and every rehire. You report through the Virginia New Hire Reporting Center. It’s a simple filing but forgetting it can result in penalties.

On the federal side, you have three main obligations. Form 941 is your quarterly federal tax return reporting wages paid, federal income tax withheld, and Social Security and Medicare taxes. Federal tax deposits happen on their own schedule, either monthly or semi-weekly depending on your total liability, and must be made through EFTPS. Form 940 is your annual federal unemployment tax (FUTA) return, due by January 31. And W-2s go to employees and the Social Security Administration by January 31 as well.

If you use a full-service payroll provider, they typically handle all of these filings and deposits on your behalf. That’s one of the biggest reasons small businesses outsource payroll. But here’s the part most owners don’t realize: even when you outsource, you are still legally responsible for every filing and every deposit. If your payroll provider makes an error or misses a deadline, the IRS and Virginia come after you, not them. So it’s worth reviewing quarterly that deposits are being made and returns are being filed.

The total list of filings can feel overwhelming, but once the system is set up and running on schedule, it becomes routine. Most problems happen at the beginning when registrations are incomplete or filing frequencies are wrong. Working with experienced bookkeepers in Fairfax who understand Virginia payroll requirements helps you get it right from the start and avoid the penalties that catch new employers off guard.