When you hire employees in a new state, you may need to open accounts for state income tax withholding, unemployment insurance, and other state-specific payroll programs like Minnesota PFML or Maryland FAMLI.
Unfortunately, working with a big-name provider like ADP means you’re on your own with setting up your accounts. It’s a completely different story if you work with CSI Accounting & Payroll.
At CSI, we’ve set up tax accounts for our small business clients for 60 years. We’ve also corrected tons of mistakes made under other providers. With payroll becoming more complicated and big-name providers becoming more hands-off, we see these errors more than ever.
Small business owners who struggle with state tax account setup have asked us:
- What happens when my business needs to set up a new state tax account?
- Why would I want help setting up my state tax account?
- What happens if a state tax account is set up incorrectly?
Setting up a New Account
What happens when you need to set up a new state tax account? It depends on who you work with: ADP or CSI.
Account Setup With ADP
If you work with ADP, you need to set up your own accounts. Each state’s setup requirements are different, you’ll need to visit the appropriate account’s website for the most accurate and current setup guide.
Once you’ve made your account, you need to give ADP your tax ID number so they can file your state return.
The problem? If they’re missing information or there’s an error, ADP will just flag your account. We’ve never heard of anyone following up to ask for what they need. And we’ve seen former ADP clients miss the warning, then end up wondering why their return didn’t get filed.
Account Setup With CSI
If you work with CSI, we keep an eye out for new tax accounts you may need. You can choose to have your dedicated Payroll Specialist set up your state tax accounts for $195 each. Most of our clients choose this option because they want us to handle it for them.
After your account is created, your dedicated Payroll Specialist works with you closely and continues to stay on top of things. Instead of leaving you to determine what an account warning means, we talk to you directly to resolve it… not just flag your account.
Getting Help With Setup
Why might you want professional help with state tax account setup, even if it costs extra?
While some accounts are very simple to figure out, others are a pain. If you’re getting confused or it’s taking too much time, you should contact a Payroll Specialist.
Plenty of business owners are afraid of setting things up wrong. We want to assure you that it’s not a big deal. Any consequences can be fixed if you work with a hands-on provider like CSI Accounting & Payroll! Let’s talk about it.
When Setup Is Wrong
So, if you get something wrong when setting up state tax accounts, can your Payroll Specialist at CSI help you fix it?
Yes!
A good example is Minnesota PFML that rolled out in January 2026. We've had several clients come to us from big-name providers like ADP who had their joint paid unemployment account, but not the owner-only account. We had to create the account and file the returns.
Other providers expect that a client's going to know what accounts they need, so they don’t check, and they don’t fix it. So the clients come to us. We’re happy to help resolve any account setup issue, even if the blame falls on ADP.
We try to avoid issues from the start, even if some clients don’t want us to set up their accounts. Right now, for Maryland FAMLI, we emailed our clients setup and handling instructions, and we're sending out invites for them to give us access. We haven’t seen that level of care from the big-name providers in the 60 years we’ve been around.
Let Us Handle Account Setups!
When it comes to state tax accounts, who you work with can make a big difference. Now that you know how ADP won’t help with setup (but CSI will), how the difficulty of some account setup justifies paying a professional to do it for you, and how CSI can help you if your account was set up wrong, are you ready to check out our payroll services?
To see if CSI Accounting & Payroll can be a good fit for your business, click the button below for a free consultation:
Not ready to talk? That’s okay! First, get an instant pricing estimate to see what your investment may look like.
