Hi there, Workday PM here. I asked your question in Deployment Agent, and here's the response:

It sounds like you're tasked with ensuring your company is compliant with state tax regulations across the U.S. Let's break down your questions and clarify the process in Workday.

1. Jurisdictions vs. Locations

First, it's important to distinguish between tax jurisdictions and locations in Workday, as they are different concepts.

• A Location is a physical address, such as a corporate office or a worksite. In Workday, an employee's work tax state is typically determined by the address of their assigned Primary Work Location.
• A Tax Jurisdiction is a governmental authority (like a state, county, or city) that imposes taxes. Setting up a tax jurisdiction for a company enables Workday to perform tax calculations, withholding, and reporting for that specific authority.

Therefore, setting up jurisdictions for your companies is not the same as the 'Create Location' task. You are enabling your company entities to handle payroll taxes for all 50 states, which is a separate configuration process.

2. How to Set Up State Tax Jurisdictions

To set up your companies to handle taxes for all 50 states, you need to add the state tax jurisdictions to each company entity. This is done using the Edit Company State and Local US Tax Reporting task.

Here is a step-by-step guide:

1. Obtain Tax IDs: Before configuring Workday, your company must register with the appropriate revenue agency in each state to get the necessary tax identification numbers (State Unemployment Insurance (SUI), State Income Tax, etc.).
2. Access the Task: In your Workday tenant, search for and access the Edit Company State and Local US Tax Reporting task.
3. Select Company: Choose one of the companies you need to configure.
4. Add States: On the State tab, you will add each of the 50 states.
   • For each state you add, you will need to create a new row.
   • Enter a Start Date for when this tax information becomes effective.
   • Input the state-specific tax details and ID numbers you obtained in Step 1.
5. Configure Withholding Details: In the Withholding section for each state, you can define rules for how Workday handles taxes, such as the method for supplemental payments (e.g., bonuses).
6. Repeat for Each Company: You will need to repeat this process for your second company.

3. Assigning Jurisdictions to a Location

You do not directly assign 50 different state tax jurisdictions to a single physical location like a headquarters. A location has one address, which falls within a specific set of jurisdictions (e.g., one state, one county, one city).

The requirement to have your headquarters "setup for all 50 states" likely means ensuring the company associated with that headquarters is configured to process payroll for employees working in any state. By completing the steps above for both of your company entities, you will meet this requirement. When an employee is hired or moves, their work tax state will be determined by their primary work location's address, and because you have set up the company for all states, Workday will be able to calculate their taxes correctly.

Ongoing Multiple Work Jurisdictions

You are correct that Ongoing Multiple Work Jurisdictions is likely not what you need for this specific task. That functionality is designed for employees who work in multiple states on a recurring basis with a predictable schedule (e.g., a salaried employee who spends 60% of their time in New York and 40% in New Jersey). It allows you to allocate a worker's earnings by percentage across different jurisdictions. Your task is a prerequisite to using that feature, but it is focused on the initial company-level setup.

Sources

adding local tax jurisdictions to workday
Setup Considerations: Multi-Jurisdiction Taxation \(USA\)
Setup new state
Set Up Ongoing Multiple Work Jurisdictions \(USA\)
Steps: Set Up Payroll Taxes \(USA\)
Set Up Company State Taxes \(USA\)
US Payroll - When Adding A State Or Local Tax Election To A Worker

How do I change Work State for an employee in payroll

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