Oregon Secretary of State

Combined Employer Registration Help

Business Information

Who must register? Only individuals or firms with employees need to file a report. Corporate officers are considered employees, including those in subchapter “S” ​Corporations.

Tip: Pre filled fields are information you entered when completing registration for Secretary of State. Pre filled information cannot be altered. To amend or change information use the previous buttons.

Business Name:

Enter the legal name of your entity. If a sole proprietor or general partnership, enter the name(s) of the owner(s).

Assumed Business Name (as registered with Oregon Secretary of State):

If applicable enter any other names of entity.

Type of Ownership:

Enter the legal entity of the business. If your business is a nonprofit and you have employees working in the transit districts, send a copy of your 501(c)(3) exemption with the completed registration as proof of exemption from transit taxes by mail or fax:
Oregon Department of Revenue
P.O. Box 14800
Salem, OR 97309
Fax: 503-945-8772

Mailing Address:

Enter the main address for the business.

Business Contact/Authorized person to discuss payroll account:

Enter name and phone of person authorized to discuss your payroll account. If the business owner is the contact, enter the owner’s name.

Business Email:

Enter the email(s) address of business.

Bank Information:

Enter your business bank information. If the bank account has not been established, leave blank.

Work Locations:

List the physi​cal address (no P.O. Boxes) in Oregon where work is performed. If no set location (i.e. construction sites, door to door sales, firefighting) then list the physical address of your base of operations (i.e. home address).

  • If all work is performed outside Oregon and you are withholding as a courtesy to the employee, a physical address is not required.
  • If you have more than one place of business in Oregon list each location, its physical address, product or service, and if this location provides an “auxiliary” service, such as an administrative headquarters, a research and development branch, storage or warehouse facility, or other service for another unit of the same company.

Offsite Payroll Information:

If using an off-site payroll service, provide the name of the payroll service and the contact person. A Power of Attorney needs to be included​ if you are allowing the Department of Revenue to disclose your confidential payroll tax information.

Owner/Officer Information:

List all owners and/or officers responsible for the business. You must mark the appropriate boxes to let the Department of Revenue know the responsibility of each owner/officer. (Boxes include: responsible for filing tax returns, paying taxes, hiring/firing, determining which creditors to pay first.)

CORPORATE OFFICER EXCLUSION:

Closely hel​d family corporations may elect to exclude from unemployment insurance corporate officers who are directors, stockholders, and family members, and who have substantial ownership in the corporation. Those eligible for the exclusion must be members of the same family and bear one of the following relationships to one of the others: parents, stepparents, grandparents, spouses, sons-in-law, daughters-in-law, brothers, sisters, children, stepchildren, adopted children or grandchildren. A single member corporate officer/director is not eligible for the exclusion.

To qualify for the family corporation exclusion, an election in writing must be made to the Employment Department​. If accepted, the exclusions will be effective the first day of the quarter in which the request is filed. We will notify the employer in writing whether the election is approved or denied.

Contact the Oregon Employment Department​ with questions.

  • ​Corporate officer wages must be included in the calculation of agricultural and non agricultural payroll.

Forms and Billing Address:

Select button to indicate where forms and billings should be mailed. The forms and billing address can be the same or separate addresses. If you do not mark otherwise, forms and billings will be mailed to the primary business address listed.

Employee and Payroll Information:

Mark form OQ – Oreg​​on Quarterly Combined Tax Report unless you are an employer of a domestic (in-home worker) and you file annually or an Agricultural Employer who files federal form 943​ and your employees are defined as agricultural workers.

​If you file Form 943 you may file Form WA or Form OQ. If you are also subject to state unemployment, Workers’ Benefit Fund Assessment, or transit taxes, you must file a Form OQ quarterly.

Agricultural Employers and Employees:

​Domestic (in-home workers):

Workers performing service in a private home or fraternity/sorority. Domestic service does not include Adult Foster care.

Payroll Information

Transit Tax:

  • TriMet tax​ is an employer-paid excise tax based on payrolls for services performed in Multnomah and parts of Washington and Clackamas counties.
  • Lane Transit District ​covers the Eugene/Springfield area of Lane County. This excise tax is based on the same principle as TriMet.

Unemployment Tax:

State une​mployment tax is an employer tax that finances the Oregon unemployment insurance program. Generally employers must pay into the Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund if they:

  • Have one or more employees in each of 18 weeks during a calendar year, or
  • Have total payroll of $1000 or more in a calendar quarter.

Exceptions:

Agricultural labor is reportable if you have paid $20,000 or more in total cash wages in a calendar quarter or have 10 or more employees during 20 weeks of a calendar year. You are considered to be subject effective the beginning of that calendar year.  Agricultural employers subject to unemployment tax may choose to file withholding quarterly.

Domestic/​hous​​ehold service is subject if you have paid $1,000 or more in total cash wages in a calendar quarter. You are considered to be subject effective the beginning of that calendar year.

For questions​ contact the Oregon Employment Department​.

  • ​Corporate officer wages must be included in the calculation of Agricultural and non agricultural payroll.

Previous Ownership Information:

If you acquired all or part of the business operations of a previous owner, or there was an entity change, mark “yes.” If you acquired all or part of the previous business, but did not assume any of the liabilities, mark “yes.” If the previous owner retained any part of the business, mark “yes.”

If ​an employing enterprise sells, transfers, or acquires all or part of a trade or business (including employees), such transactions must be reported to the Employment Department​, Tax Section, within 60 days of the date the transaction becomes final.

Acquire/Transfer Information:

All – includes the entire employing enterprise, to include employees, of an Oregon business.
Part – includes a portion of an employing enterprise, to include employees, of an Oregon business.
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Employer's Guide

Profile of man sitting at desk looking at computer screen. The definition of "employee" differs among Oregon state agencies. If you have questions, refer to the Oregon Business Guide booklet​ or call the appropriate agency.

Quick Links

Department of Revenue contacts

Department of Revenue mailing addresses​

Department of Revenue, Power of Attorney

Employment Department Contacts

Employment Department, Corporate Officer Exclusion Request​

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