West Virginia Pay Stub requirements

If you are operating your business in the state of West Virginia, there are a number of things you should know before you provide pay stubs to employees and contractors.

This resource explains laws and regulations applicable to employers in West Virginia for running payroll and providing pay stubs.

Pay stub regulations in West Virginia

Information needed to generate pay stubs

To provide employees with accurate pay stubs, the information below is required.

• Employee's total allowances
• Employee's exemption status from state withholding
• Employee's filing status and additional state withholding amount
• Whether employee's entire monthly tax was withheld in a single payroll
• Whether employee is two-earner percent
• Whether employee's current pay period wages would cause the threshold to be crossed in the month if withheld

West Virginia wage and hour laws

In accordance with West Virginia wage and hour legislation, employers must provide non-exempt employees with minimum wage, overtime compensation, meal and rest breaks, and paid time-off benefits.

The following aspects are regulated by law:

• Minimum wage
• Overtime pay
• Meal breaks
• Rest breaks

Minimum wage

West Virginia legislation mandates an hourly minimum wage for workers, which employers must adhere to by paying at least the specified minimum rate. West Virginia's hourly minimum wage stands at $8.75

Overtime pay

In West Virginia, both state and federal laws, particularly the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), govern overtime regulations. These regulations detail the calculation and timing of overtime pay for employees. Typically, overtime pay is required when an employee exceeds 40 hours of work in a single workweek. The standard rate for overtime pay is 1.5 times the regular rate of pay for any hours worked beyond the 40-hour threshold in a given workweek.

Meal break

Employers must provide employees with a minimum of 20 minutes for meal breaks during work days lasting 6 hours or more, at times reasonably chosen by the employer. This is mandatory unless employees are already granted necessary breaks or allowed to eat while working.

Rest break

West Virginia law does not mandate employers to offer rest breaks to their employees.

West Virginia State Payroll Taxes

In West Virginia, payroll taxes fall into two main categories:

• The West Virginia personal income tax (PIT)
• The West Virginia State Unemployment Insurance (UI) tax.

The West Virginia personal income tax

The West Virginia state tax system features four brackets (2.36%, 3.15%, 3.54%, 4.72%, and 5.12%), applied according to an employee's income level and filing status, including Single, Married Filing Jointly, Married Filing Separately, and Head of Household.

West Virginia State Unemployment Insurance (UI) tax

The State Unemployment Tax Act (SUTA) was established to aid individuals facing unemployment by furnishing them with unemployment benefits. This program enables states to amass funds, which are subsequently allocated for the provision of unemployment insurance benefits to those who are jobless.

SUTA rates vary between 1.50% to 8.50%

The taxable wage base has been elevated from $9,000 to $9,521 in 2024.

West Virginia tax filing

• Report of New Employees
• Report of Independent Contractors
• West Virginia individual income tax return filing (form IT-140)
• West Virginia estimated individual income tax filing (form IT-140ES)
• Filing a Quarterly contribution and wage Report(form WVUC-A-154-A)

Report of New hire Employees

In West Virginia, it's important to report new hires to the West Virginia New Hire Reporting Center within 14 days of their employment start date. You can do this by using Form W-4.

How to report employees' new hire in West Virginia?

You can use any of the following options to report new hiring.

Report of Independent Contractors

In West Virginia, it's crucial to report independent contractors to the West Virginia New Hire Reporting Center within 14 days of their employment start date, particularly when payment for their services amounts to $2,500 or more.

Filing a Quarterly Contribution and wage Report(form WVUC-A-154-A )

In accordance with West Virginia Unemployment Law, the majority of employers are responsible for unemployment taxes and must report employee wages on a quarterly basis. Each quarter, employers must submit a comprehensive Quarterly Wage and Contribution Report.

The deadlines for filing these quarterly reports are as follows:

West Virginia individual income tax return filing (form IT-140)

The deadline for filing 2023 tax returns and paying owed taxes aligns with the federal income tax return deadline on April 15, 2024. Requests for filing extensions must also be submitted by this date. Taxpayers granted an extension will have until October 15, 2024, to complete their filing.

It's important to note that while an extension allows for additional time to file, it does not extend the deadline for making tax payments, which must still be completed by April 15, 2024.

West Virginia estimated individual income tax filing (form IT-140ES)

If your estimated tax liability surpasses your anticipated income tax credits, you're required to make quarterly estimated tax payments. These payments bridge the gap between your expected annual income tax and the credits you expect to receive, like the Family Tax Credit or Credit for Income Tax Paid to Another State. This ensures you fulfill your tax obligations regularly throughout the year.

Processing payroll manually is complex

As a business owner who runs payroll manually, you will need to keep up with ever-changing payroll laws. You already have a lot on your plate and you might not want to get into the complex process of pay stub generation.

With SecurePayStubs, you can create a pay stub using our online paystub generator for your employees with accurate federal and West Virginia state taxes and independent contractors in less than 2 minutes. Enter the basic employee and employer information, select a pay stub template for free, and let SecurePayStubs calculate the applicable payroll taxes accurately.

Spend less time generating pay stubs and more on your business growth.

This article has been updated from its original publication date of March 28, 2024.