"We thought payroll was handling this" is one of the most common lines businesses say after a notice arrives, and it's usually true, payroll was running fine. The problem is that payroll processing and payroll compliance are not the same function, and registrations, work states, and filings depend on information the provider was never given. Here's why these gaps slip past even a provider that's doing its job correctly, and who actually owns closing them.

Most businesses with missing payroll registrations do not find out until a notice arrives, a filing gets rejected, or a provider transition forces a review. By then payroll has been running for months on infrastructure that was never properly established. Here is exactly what happens when payroll tax registrations were never completed and how to fix it before the problem gets worse.