For more details on the payroll reporting process, click on the appropriate link below.

• Filing state-fund payroll reports online
• Filing non-Ohio payroll
• Paying premiums online
• Frequently asked questions
• Payroll: what is reportable?
• NCCI manual classifications
• Payroll reporting for sole proprietors and partnerships
• Payroll reporting for corporate officers
• Minimum and maximum payroll reporting requirements
• Construction industry payroll limitation

Filing state-fund payroll reports online
Private, state-fund and public, state-fund employers must pay workers’ compensation premiums from their first date of hire into the state insurance fund. If you had employees prior to obtaining coverage you may be required to submit prior to coverage (PTC) payroll reports for up to the previous two years. Employers calculate their own premium using the Payroll Report (DP-21).

Ohio law allows employers performing work outside Ohio to separate payroll for that work. However, you must first submit a Notice of Election to Obtain Coverage from Other States (U-131). Then, we will send you a separate payroll report, Non-Ohio Payroll Segregation Report (U-146). Remember, you will only receive the U-146 if you've properly notified us about the other states' coverage.

To report Ohio or non-Ohio payroll online, there must be a payroll report available for the specific reporting period. If you do not find a report for the period you want, call 1-800-OHIOBWC, and listen to the options.

Once you access your Ohio payroll report, you have the option of reporting Ohio payroll, non-Ohio payroll or both.

• In the Ohio report, you'll see manual classifications that describe your company’s industrial pursuit. We determine premium base rates by the claims experience of all employers within that manual classification. We may change those rates depending on your own claims experience or your company’s participation in an alternative rating program. You cannot add manual classifications to the payroll report.
• The non-Ohio payroll report only requires you to report payroll by state. You are not required to pay premium on this payroll.

When you complete the form, enter the amount of payroll for each assigned manual classification. BWC has already provided the blended rate for the manual, and all other assessments and administrative costs. After you enter your information you will see the total amount of premium due is automatically calculated.

Paying premiums online
When reporting payroll online you can pay your premium with a credit card using Quick Pay. You can use MasterCard®, VISA® or American Express®. You also can authorize a payment from your checking or savings account. If you authorize payment from your checking or savings account, you can future date your premium payment up to the due date for the reporting period.

The minimum payment is $50 for private employers (Prior-to-coverage payroll reports with zero reported payroll do not require any payments; however, employers must report payroll to prevent an estimated billing.); the minimum payment is $100 for public employers.

Note: The date you make a payment online is the date used for reinstatement of coverage.

If you need to make additional payments, you can mail them to BWC, along with a copy of the appropriate payroll report or you can go to Accounts receivable balance history and make payment through Quick pay. The payment would be applied to the oldest outstanding transaction.

If you are paying premium for multiple payroll reports, use Quick Pay to make a payment for each individual report to ensure that we apply your payments properly.

Frequently asked questions

When do you report payroll?
Private, state-fund employers report payroll semiannually. Payroll reports are issued each December and June, and premium payment is due Aug. 31 and Feb. 28 (Feb. 29 leap year), respectively, or coverage will lapse. To be considered timely, your payroll report and premium payment must be received, not postmarked, by the due date.

Public employers report payroll annually. The payroll report is issued each December, and 45 percent of the premium is due by May 15 and the balance by Sept. 1, or coverage will lapse. To be considered timely, BWC must receive your payroll report and premium payments by the due dates not postmarked. If they prefer, public employers can pay the entire amount by May 15 and receive a discount based on the number of days the premium is paid early and the current treasury bill rate.

Penalty for misrepresenting payroll and premiums
BWC can impose the 10-times rule in cases where an employer misrepresents payroll. This rule allows us to charge an employer 10 times the amount of premium underreported.

Do I need to file a payroll report if I have no payroll?
You must file a payroll report even if you have no payroll for the reporting period. Enter zeros in the payroll fields of the report. The calculated premium will be zero as will the total premium to be paid. However, since the minimum amount you can pay to maintain coverage if you are a private employer is $50, the premium due is $50. For public employers the minimum amount you can pay to maintain coverage is $100, so the premium due is $100.

What do I do if I no longer need coverage?
Since workers’ compensation insurance is provided in advance of payroll reporting or premium payment, you must notify BWC of your request to cancel coverage. An employer can request to cancel coverage online or complete the Notification of Policy Update (U-117).

Note: If you are currently leasing your employees from a professional employer organization (PEO), you must maintain active coverage. If you no longer need coverage, and do not inform us, the policy will remain in effect. If we do not receive a final payroll report, your coverage will lapse, and we will bill you for estimated payroll for the period. If we do not receive payment after 60 days, we turn the policy over to the Ohio Attorney General’s Office for collection.

Payroll: what is reportable?
In defining payroll, we generally follow the guidelines of the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services and the Federal Unemployment Tax Authority (FUTA) in the Businesses section.

We consider the following general items as payroll. Include them in the payroll you report for both National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI) and BWC classifications. This list is general. For specific questions call 1-800-OHIOBWC.

• Gross hourly wages and gross salaries
• Sick pay (including third party, excluding workers’ compensation)
• Bonus payments, including stock given as a bonus
• All sales commissions
• All tips reported to the employer
• Severance pay
• Overtime pay
• All shift or holiday differential pay
• All stock gifts
• Profit sharing going directly to the employees as payroll
• Any voluntary employee contributions to retirement plans, including 401K
• Any portions of cafeteria plans as reportable to FUTA, such as cash options and unqualified benefits (normal employee contributions are not reportable)
• Reasonable value of board, lodging, house or room rent unless provided for the convenience of the employer
• Per diems and traveling expense is reportable if this amount exceeds one-third of the employee’s total remuneration. Total remuneration includes both the regular wages, per diems and traveling expense. The amount of per diem and/or traveling expense that exceeds one-third of the total remuneration is reportable.
• Contributions to deferred compensation by employees (except for contributions to a 457 plan)
• Expenses exceeding one-third of an employee’s normal pay
• Personal use of company car
• Payments to casual/spot labor

NCCI manual classifications
BWC uses the manual classification system established by the National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI), which is used in more than 40 states. You must report your reportable payroll using this system. You will calculate your premium by multiplying your reportable payroll by the rate for each NCCI code and adding the total(s) for these code(s).

We adopted this system because it represents a more equitable premium rate structure. Also, the NCCI system is a more accurate and understandable classification system, which better classifies employers by their predominant business.
Learn more about manual classifications.

Payroll reporting for sole proprietors and partnerships
Sole proprietors and partners need to provide their employees, including seasonal and part time, with workers’ compensation coverage. However, sole proprietors and partners are not required to cover themselves. If you decide to elect workers’ compensation coverage for yourself, complete the Application for Elective Coverage (U-3S). Report your actual net income as payroll and pay premiums on that earned income.

For all individuals electing coverage, the reportable wages are subject to a minimum and maximum, which is based on the statewide average weekly wage calculated annually by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services. Minimum/Maximum payroll reporting requirements

The DP-21 for an employer with elective coverage displays two types of suffixes following the manual codes.

For NCCI manual codes - use codes displaying RN (regular) to report employee payroll. Use codes displaying SN (supplemental) to report sole proprietor(s) or partner(s) payroll. Segregate the two types of payroll and enter them under the proper manual type.

Payroll reporting for corporate officers
A corporate officer by definition is an employee of a corporation, whether the business is for profit or non-profit. A corporate officer cannot be considered a volunteer in the business.

We consider corporate officers employees of the corporation and as such they are covered under the workers’ compensation policy as any other employee. Corporate officers include the president, vice president, secretary, treasurer and any other executive officers, which are specified in, and empowered by, the charter or empowered by regularly adopted bylaws of the corporation.

Persons who are elected or appointed, empowered by the directors and perform duties for the corporation also must be covered. Wages are subject to a minimum and maximum, which is based on the statewide average weekly wage calculated annually by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.
Report the payroll of corporate officers under the manual classification that appropriately describes their duties.

Corporate officers of Subchapter S corporations must report a reasonable wage for the services they perform. If an officer of a subchapter corporation has regular duties or performs services for the corporation, the officer’s salary (if any) is reportable to the maximum. Minimum/Maximum payroll reporting requirements

If the officer’s regular earnings are less than this maximum, then his or her portion of ordinary income should be included (added to their regular earnings) up to the maximum. Do not deduct net losses.

Minimum and maximum payroll reporting requirements
The following individuals are subject to a minimum and maximum payroll reporting requirement:

• Active executive officers of a corporation
  Note: Officers are considered active if they are engaged in any work on behalf of the corporation;
• Employers listed below who choose elective coverage (because they are not required to carry workers’ compensation insurance).

- Sole proprietors
- Partnership
- Family farm corporate officers
- Limited liability company acting as a partnership
- Limited liability company acting as a sole proprietor
- Individual incorporated as a corporation (with no employees)

Notes: Ministers covered under a religious organization’s policy are not subject to the minimum and maximum reporting requirement, and should report their actual earnings.
Non-officer board members are not subject to the officer minimum/maximum rules.

Individuals in any of the categories above must report a minimum and maximum payroll based on the state average weekly wage (SAWW). The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services determines the SAWW effective Jan. 1 of each year. Effective July 1, 2006, these individuals must report minimum wages equal to 50 percent of the SAWW up to a maximum of 150 percent of the SAWW.

Reporting guidelines are as follows:

*Prior to July 1, 2006, there was no minimum reporting requirement for corporate officers.

If an officer has reportable earnings of more than the maximum during a calendar year, the maximum must be reported regardless of which semiannual period they were earned. Corporate officers subject to both the construction industry limitation and the corporate officers’ maximum should use the lesser of the two limitations.

Construction industry payroll limitation
Since 1995, construction industry payroll limits have been established for manual classification codes in Industry Group 4. BWC reviews the limits each year and revises them as needed. The construction industry employer who chooses to use the limit when reporting payroll must maintain records to verify the weekly wages paid to construction industry employees. The payroll limitation applies to weekly payroll, regardless of the hourly or daily remuneration.

Apply the cap on a weekly basis on an employee-by-employee basis. It makes no difference if the employee is full time, part time or seasonal. Bonus payments are added to the employee’s regular wage for the week in which both are paid and are subject to the cap for that week. As of Jan. 1, 1999, you must spread employee bonuses and other payments over the period they are earned. Bonuses paid to officers reportable to a construction industry manual are made a part of their aggregate wages for the year and are capped at an aggregate amount of the cap times 52 weeks.

Construction industry employers will report the actual remuneration paid to their construction employees, including bonuses and other payments. Except for payroll paid beginning Jan. 1, 1995, the reportable payroll will not exceed the weekly limits outlined in the following table:

NCCI manual codes
NCCI manual codes that qualify for construction limits from Industry Group 4 Appendix B, Table 1, Part B of the Ohio BWC State Insurance Fund Manual.

Construction